


Keep Your Head Down

by chaosmyths



Category: Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Office, M/M, Misunderstandings, the slowest burn to ever burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-16
Updated: 2017-11-19
Packaged: 2019-01-18 07:02:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 28,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12383265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaosmyths/pseuds/chaosmyths
Summary: It’s not that Seongwoo dislikes Kang Daniel.It’s more that he’s bemused how Daniel has managed to keep his employment for so long when he does basically nothing.(Itstartswith bemusement and ends in levels of affection that Seongwoo doesn’t know what to do with.)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **27/12/2018: This is NOT an update and I'm not sure it'll ever get finished but in honour of my 2 cc anons I'm unhiding KYHD for the first time since April! Happy Holidays!**
> 
> -  
> Things I'm really bad at  
> ○ Being on Hiatus  
> ○ Keeping Fic Short  
> ○ Romance
> 
> Seriously as with everything I write this started in the planning stage as a 5Kish short one-shot and somehow has ended up as probably three parts? (Will I ever write a stand-alone oneshot? Watch this space but seems unlikely)
> 
> Also another thing I always do - everyone’s aged up slightly with the same gaps as rl. And yes I know South Korean office culture is super different to our Western one but seeing as this was entirely self indulgent already fic I planned at my own work (fuck the Spreadsheet of Doom is all I’m saying) I just based it off a sort of mish mash of the various office cultures I’ve experienced with no setting specified.

It’s not that Seongwoo dislikes Kang Daniel.  
  
He doesn’t really know Daniel well enough to dislike him, and it’s not like he’s done much to offend Seongwoo personally.  
  
It’s more he’s bemused how Daniel has managed to keep his employment for so long.  
  
At least, that’s how it starts.  
  
It starts with Seongwoo knowing Daniel only through inter departmental emails and the vague whispers of the gossip mill that get to him despite his total disinterest in it.  
  
It starts with bemusement and ends in levels of affection that Seongwoo doesn’t know what to do with.  
  
How it ends is with Seongwoo caring more for Daniel than he wants to admit.  
  
How it starts is with a series of encounters.  


  
**Stage One Bemusement.**

  
The first experience Seongwoo has with Daniel is about six months after he starts working at Mnet Inc.  
  
Seongwoo has noticed Sungwoon from finance wandering around the floor for the last half hour so he sticks his head above his cubicle wall and asks, “Are you lost Sungwoon?”  
  
Sungwoon looks up at him and sighs, “I’m not lost so much as I’ve lost someone.”  
  
Seongwoo twists his mouth in an expression of mock sympathy, “That’s awfully careless of you, have you tried under the desk?”  
  
Jaehwan in the cubicle next to him cackles whilst Sungwoon shoots him an unimpressed look.  
  
“Who are you looking for?” Seongwoo asks him since Sungwoon looks genuinely annoyed  
  
“Kang Daniel,” Sungwoon says, looking down at the documents in his hands.  
  
“Oh,” Jaehwan says, head sticking around the side of his cubicle (since like Sungwoon he’s not actually tall enough to see over it without ending up on his tiptoes), “Good fucking luck with that.”  
  
“Yeah,” Sungwoon says with a sigh.  
  
“Am I missing something?” Seongwoo asks wondering why the name Kang Daniel seems to mean something, “Who is Kang Daniel?”  
  
“He’s the Business Support Officer down on the sixth floor,” Sungwoon explains which actually explains nothing.  
  
“He’s like infamous for never doing any work, ever,” Jaehwan tells Seongwoo like he’s got a particularly juicy piece of gossip.  
  
“This is coming from you?” Seongwoo can’t help but ask, eyebrow raised skeptically.  
  
“Hey,” Jaehwan says in mock offence, “Just for that I’m not going to help you with the proposal for Kahi,” he says sticking his tongue out.  
  
Seongwoo ignores him because Jaehwan is going to help him whether he wants to or not.  
  
“Maybe he’s not in today?” Seongwoo offers to Sungwoon instead.  
  
“No, I asked Minhyun he’s definitely in,” Sungwoon says with a shake of his head, “I guess I’ll just send him an email and hope he reads it at some point today.” The way he says it makes Seongwoo think he’s not actually expecting Daniel to read it.  
  
“What do you need him for?” Seongwoo asks curiously, going up onto his tip toes so he can try and see the paper in Sungwoon’s hand.  
  
Sungwoon pulls the paper close to his chest with a glare, “Authorisation for some financial issues none of your business.”  
  
“You’re just trying to hide the fact you cut budget from marketing and nowhere else,” Jaehwan chirps having moved from his cubicle to Seongwoo’s at some point over the course of the conversation.  
  
“I’m not disclosing the budget of any other department,” Sungwoon tells them exactly what he’s told them every time Jaehwan asks about the budget. The finance department and marketing department share a floor (Seongwoo’s cubicle neighbours Yeonjung’s and that girl is loud) so it’s really not as confidential as they think it is.  
  
“What’s even on the sixth floor?” Jaehwan asks as if the thought has just occurred to him.  
  
Seongwoo shakes his head, “Procurement and logistics, I think,” Seongwoo says though he’s not exactly an expert on all the department’s.  
  
“Okay, I have an email to send, goodbye,” Sungwoon tells them abruptly as he’s in the habit of doing when he’s fed up with idle chit chat before heading to his own cubicle.  
  
“Is this Daniel guy really that bad?” Seongwoo asks Jaehwan once Sungwoon has disappeared. Jaehwan has something of a tendency to exaggerate and if Seongwoo hasn’t heard about him so far he can’t really be that infamous.  
  
Jaehwan nods, “Yeah, some of the kids in HR had this bet going on whether he still has his job because he’s sleeping with Boa or she just keeps him around for his pretty face.”  
  
“That sounds like it’s breaking about twelve HR rules,” Seongwoo says with a frown, that speculation not sitting right with him. The idea that anyone could doubt Boa’s professionalism or dedication to the company even as a joke is ridiculous.  
  
“Yeah, Minhyun shut it down pretty quickly,” Jaehwan says with a shrug like he think’s it’s no big deal (maybe he does - Jaehwan has odd morals).  
  
“Well at least someone around here is professional,” Seongwoo says with a shake of his head before he spots Jonghyun heading towards them. Deciding they should at least pretend to be doing their work Seongwoo shoos Jaehwan out of his cubicle and gets back on task, assuming that will be the end of that.  
  
It’s not.  
  
As he’s coming back from lunch almost five hours later he bumps into Sungwoon looking the closest to frazzled that Seongwoo has ever seen him.  
  
“What’s up? Still haven’t found Daniel?” Seongwoo jokes, assuming that Sungwoon actually has managed to track him down in the last five hours.  
  
It’s why he’s surprised when Sungwoon sighs, and nods, “This building is only nine floors you really wouldn’t think it would be that hard.”  
  
“Have you tried his office?” Seongwoo offers.  
  
“Oh, no it hadn’t once occurred to me that Daniel could be in his own office,” Sungwoon tells him shortly.  
  
Seongwoo winces. He probably deserves the sharp response because honestly why would Sungwoon not have checked the office?  
  
Sungwoon sighs and rubs at his forehead, “I need this authorised by the end of the day,” he admits to Seongwoo, “But we’ve got our department biannual review at 2 so I’m not sure I’ll have a chance,”  
  
“It’s five past two,” Seongwoo points out to Sungwoon, glancing down at his watch.  
  
Sungwoon let’s out a colourful string of curses that would probably result in a write-up from Minhyun if he’d been here. Seongwoo winces again.  
  
“I need to go down to R &D later,” Seongwoo offers taking pity on Sungwoon and not at all for any personal gain, “If you tell me where exactly Daniel’s cubicle is I can see if I can track him down for you?”  
  
“If you don’t mind,” Sungwoon says looking relieved, “The paperwork is in my office, just a second.”  
  
“I don’t mind,” Seongwoo says trailing behind Sungwoon, “After all I am the most considerate and helpful person in this office.”  
  
“You just want me to call us even on the whole YMC situation,” Sungwoon says with a wry smile even as he’s handing the documents over to Seongwoo.  
  
“Maybe,” Seongwoo shrugs shamelessly. It’s been over three months and even though Sungwoon has never held the situation over his head Seongwoo doesn’t like being in debt to people, favours or money wise.  
  
“Well if you can actually find Daniel and get this signed off consider us even,” Sungwoon says walking backwards towards the meeting room.  
  
“Done,” Seongwoo says with a mocking salute as he skims his eyes over the document.  
  
“Wait a second. This is, nothing to do with their overall budget,”  Seongwoo calls after Sungwoon, remembering all the secrecy from this morning. Instead it’s Corporate Credit Card records which anyone in the building can access on the internal server.  
  
“Yeah, but Jaehwan doesn’t need to know that,” Sungwoon says with a laugh.  
  
Seongwoo can get behind that, “Have fun in your meeting,” Seongwoo waves Sungwoon away, not wanting to be blamed for him being any later than he is.  
  
Seongwoo puts the papers on the edge of his desk and pulls his proposal for R&D together before he heads down to have a chat. It’s a productive discussion, if Seongwoo does say so himself, and his luck seems to continue because as the chirpy intern on the sixth floor informs him when he asks where he can find Daniel, he’s caught him on the floor for the ‘first time that day’.  
  
Seongwoo hopes it’s a hyperbole since it’s after three in the afternoon.  
  
The intern is right, the cubicle she’s pointed him towards is occupied. Not just by the broad shouldered guy that Seongwoo presumes is Daniel but by another intern as well.  
  
Seongwoo waits for a few minutes but their conversation seems neither important (judging by the amount of times Daniel has laughed) nor like it’s going to end anytime soon.  
  
“Excuse me,” Seongwoo knocks on the door frame politely, drawing both of their attention to him, “Are you Daniel?” he asks the guy. Seongwoo recognises him on sight, he’s seen him around a couple of times, always with at least one other person attached at the hip, though he had no idea who he was or what department he was in.  
  
“Yes,” he says bowing his head in acknowledgement, “I am?”  
  
“Ha Sungwoon has been looking for you all day,” Seongwoo tells him mildly, trying to be pointed without coming across too accusing. He doesn’t need to get off on the wrong foot with yet another one of his colleagues, especially when he’s asking something of him.  
  
“Oh?” Daniel asks, eyes widened, “Has he?”  
  
“He said he sent you an email,” Seongwoo says leaning against the door frame. Daniel’s computer has been idle so long that it’s signed him out so Seongwoo watches as he logs himself in and checks his email before he stiffens.  
  
“Oh shoot, sorry, Somi I have to go find Sungwoon oh my gosh,” he says bolting out of his chair.  
  
“It’s fine, he asked me to bring you these. He needs your signature,” Seongwoo hands over the papers trying not to smile at how ridiculously flustered Daniel seems. It’s kind of cute in an incompetent way.  
  
Daniel sits down with a huff reading over the papers and apologising profusely to Seongwoo the entire time, “I’m sorry I really didn’t notice the email and I’ve been busy all morning, I hope Sungwoon didn’t spend too much of his day trying to find me. I really don’t want to waste his time.”  
  
He had wasted Sungwoon’s time, and usually Seongwoo would take great delight in telling someone that they’ve been an inconvenience but something about how genuinely embarrassed and apologetic he looks makes Seongwoo pause.  
  
 “I think he looked for a while, but decided to send the email and hope you got it,” Seongwoo eventually settles on. Blunt and not padding the truth but not nearly as rude as he could have been.  
  
“I’m so sorry I got distracted,” he says looking at Somi, whose still sitting on the side of the desk looking completely unbothered. Seongwoo tries not to snort, he sees how it is.  
  
“It’s fine,” Seongwoo says as Daniel hands the papers back, “Just try not to cut it so close to the deadline next time,”  
  
“Yes, um of course.” Daniel bows his head again, Seongwoo noticing with interest a red flush creeping across his ears, “Sorry for the inconvenience.”  
  
“Yes, you’ve mentioned once or twice,’ Seongwoo points out dryly. He’s never been apologised to so much before in his life - especially by someone he’s only just met.  
  
“Right, okay.” Daniel says looking extremely awkward.  
  
“That’s all I needed,” Seongwoo tells him with a smile amused at the whole exchange, “I guess I’ll see you around.”  
  
“See you around,” Daniel echoes awkwardly as Seongwoo walks away smiling.  
  
Something about the entire encounter was oddly endearing Seongwoo decides as he makes the trek back to his desk, even though there wasn’t anything entirely remarkable about it.  
  
Seongwoo isn’t surprised to find Jaehwan sitting in his cubicle (at his desk) when he gets back from his excursion to the sixth floor.  
  
“So, how was it? Did you find him? Did you take a peek at Sungwoon’s super secret financial documents? Was it torturous?” Jaehwan asks, rattling his questions off one after the other. Seongwoo doesn’t bother answering any of them.  
  
“You’ve probably been waiting in my office since I went down practicing the dramatic statement you wanted to make,” Seongwoo tells Jaehwan dryly.  
  
“Please, not all of us are you. I don’t have to rehearse my wit, it comes naturally. Unlike yours,” Jaehwan tells him with a serious face. Seongwoo considers tipping him out of the chair but decides against it. He’s pretty sure Justin in building services would laugh in his face if he requested another new chair.  
  
“I found him. It took all of five minutes. I read Sungwoon’s secret documents, procurement has doubled our budget by the way,” Seongwoo tells him sounding as bored as he can just to piss Jaehwan off, “It was fine, he was fine.”  
  
“He was fine,” Jaehwan scoffs, “what does that even mean.”  
  
“He signed the documents when I gave them to him? He was polite? He seemed genuinely apologetic,” Seongwoo shrugs as he puts the papers into a plastic sleeves and sticks a post-it note on it to remind himself to give it back to Sungwoon later, “There is literally no story there.”  
  
“Oh no, you’ve been blinded be his good looks as well,” Jaehwan shakes his head sadly, “Another good one has fallen to Kang Daniel’s handsome face.”  
  
Seongwoo rolls his eyes and cuffs Jaehwan around the back of the head, “I’m just saying he apologised to me more in two minutes than you’ve apologised to me in two years, you could learn something from him.”  
  
“Yeah, like how to get away with doing no work and flirting all day,” Jaehwan mutters under his breathe.  
  
“You would have to learn how to flirt first,” Seongwoo nudges Jaehwan out of his chair because he still has a few things he has left to do before leaving for the day.  
  
“I know how to flirt just fine,” Jaehwan says indignantly as he reluctantly gets up from the chair.  
  
“Sewoon would argue otherwise,” Seongwoo tells him cheerfully, taking great delight in the way he can see the shame and embarrassment creep over Jaehwan. Any mention of the office Christmas Party last year is sure to bring shame upon Jaehwan and get him to drop whatever topic he won’t let go.  
  
“I was drunk,” Jaehwan mutters, though it’s a half hearted protest at best.  
  
Seongwoo shrugs and logs back onto his computer, ignoring Jaehwan because he’s noticed Jonghyun doing his afternoon rounds and doesn’t really want to get in trouble for gossiping with Jaehwan again.  
  
Unfortunately Jaehwan doesn’t notice Jonghyun and Seongwoo tries not to take too much satisfaction in the way Jaehwan has to put up with a disappointed lecture from Jonghyun.

  
  
  
  
**Stage Two: Amusement**

  
  
  
Whilst his encounter with Daniel is an incident that he won’t be forgetting anytime soon Seongwoo doesn’t really have anything much to do with him for him for the next few weeks. Sure he notices him around now that he knows who he is, but that’s about the extent of it.  
  
There is one instance that stands out though amongst the handful of times they exchange greetings in the elevator or pass each other in the cafeteria.  
  
Seongwoo is heading down to talk to Yoojung in Sales when he spots Daniel’s increasingly familiar figure. As per Jaehwan’s gossip Seongwoo has come to learn there’s not really anywhere in the entire building you would be surprised to find Daniel since he manages to find his way around everywhere.  
  
Seongwoo is surprised to see him though because he’s meant to be in that meeting Sungwoon has been complaining about all week.  
  
“Daniel,” Seongwoo calls out to him curiously unable to help himself for whatever reason.  
  
“Hi,” Daniel starts turning around to look at Seongwoo, tensing up like he’s half afraid he’s going to get scolded which is odd to say the least. It’s not like Seongwoo has any sort of authority over him.  
  
“Are you lost?” Seongwoo asks him mildly amused at the all too familiar blush making a reappearance.  
  
“No,” Daniel says looking down with an awkward laugh, “Not lost.”  
  
“Then what are you doing?” Seongwoo asks him, expecting one of the usual colourful or unexpected replies that people get (Seongwoo’s never got one himself because he’s never asked before - but if Dongho is to be believed Kyulkyung in HR has a word document she uses to keep track of his most outlandish excuses).  
  
Seongwoo doesn’t get an excuse he gets an awkward shrug and an evasive, “A favour for someone.”  
  
“Well, that sounds very important but correct me if I’m wrong,” Seongwoo says slowly absolutely sure he’s not wrong because he’s heard Minhyun and Sungwoon talking about it earlier, “But aren’t you meant to be in the budget meeting right now?”  
  
It’s pretty funny the way Daniel’s eyes widen when he looks at Seongwoo.  
  
“Oh shit, fuck, crap,” He says covering his mouth once the words slip out.  
  
“Don’t worry about it, you’re only fifteen minutes late at this point,” Seongwoo tells him trying not to laugh because he’s not quite so rude as to laugh in someone’s face (Jaehwan would disagree but Jaehwan has no leg to stand on).  
  
“Thanks Seongwoo I owe you one,” Daniel tells him with an earnest bow before he’s running off, metaphorical dust clouds following behind him.  
  
Seongwoo let’s himself laugh once Daniel is out of sight, causing one of the interns to look at him oddly though that’s not really any concern of his.  
  
Seongwoo is pretty sure he never told Daniel is name but that doesn’t mean much; after all Daniel never told him his name either.  


  
  
  
  
**Stage Three: Familiarisation**

  
  
  
Things start to change when Daniel transfers divisions.  
  
Seongwoo doesn’t really know the details of it (nor does he care - there’s a reason he didn’t study Human Resources or Management at University) but one day he’s roped by Sally into clearing out her office.  
  
“Where are you moving to?” Seongwoo asks her curiously as he helps her carry the 12 plants she somehow manages to keep crammed in her tiny office cubicle. He’d also like to be aware exactly how far he’s expected to lug the plants  
  
“Ahh, just to the other side of the floor thankfully,” She tells him, giggling at the obvious sigh of relief that Seongwoo lets out.  
  
“Why? Do you need a new view? Do you need to get further away from Jaehwan and his hell laughter?” Seongwoo asks her balancing three pot plants in his arms somehow. He surprises himself.  
  
“Actually one of the business support officer’s is being temporarily transferred to finance,” she tells him looking around furtively before lowering her voice, “You know Kang Daniel? Honestly I think they’re just hoping being on the same floor as Jonghyun will guilt him into doing his work.”  
  
“His work must get done,” Seongwoo tells her mildly. Now that he’s been alerted to it rumours of Daniel are so wide spread that Seongwoo’s not sure how he managed to miss them for the first six months of his employment.  
  
“Yeah,” Sally says looking at Seongwoo out the side of her eye like she thinks she’s offended him or something.  
  
Seongwoo smiles brightly at her to show her there’s no offence taken but he’s not sure it actually helps put her at ease if her posture is anything to go by.  
  
Seongwoo helps her with her plants despite the awkward silence that’s fallen, and when they return to her cubicle Daniel is standing there hands in pockets, “Hi,” He grins blindingly at Sally, “You must be Sally.”  
  
“Yeah,” she says, looking dazzled despite the fact she was gossiping about him in a less than complementary manner not five minutes earlier, “That’s me.”  
  
“Sorry for kicking you out of your cubicle, I hope it’s not too much of an inconvenience, ” He says looking apologetic for the inconvenience exactly like he said he was.  
  
There’s something about Daniel’s face, Seongwoo decides, that makes him look like he genuinely believes everything he’s saying (or maybe he does).  
  
“Oh no, it’s okay,” She says looking slightly flustered.  
  
“Do you need help moving anything?” Daniel asks her.  
  
“Oh, well Seongwoo was helping me,” she says looking at Seongwoo with wide eyes, like she’s trying to communicate something to him. He has no idea what that could be though.  
  
“Oh, hello again,” Daniel says, smiling at Seongwoo like he’s only just noticed him, which is quite rude, Seongwoo’s presence is bigger than that.  
  
“Hi,” Seongwoo says with a grin before he turns to Sally, “Well, if Daniel has volunteered to help you with your sixty eight pot plants who am I too stop him,” Seongwoo says, noticing the way Daniel gulps slightly.  
  
“Welcome to the floor,” Seongwoo tells him, clapping him on the shoulder, “Usually we make new people aimlessly lug around furniture as a sort of initiation but since Sally needs help with her plants you can do that instead.”  
  
Daniel laughs, and Sally looks at him out the corner of her eye. Not his best Seongwoo will admit that.  
  
“Well, as long as I have a purpose,” Daniel says dryly. That’s (hopefully) not his best either though so Seongwoo doesn’t feel so bad.  
  
“See you around Kang Daniel,” Seongwoo says with a salute, “Good luck with your new office Sally,” he tells her solemnly, “Come back and visit.”  
  
“I’m moving closer to you Seongwoo,” She tells him with a roll of her eyes before she turns her attention to Daniel, “Now, you promised to help me move so no backing out,” she smiles completely won over by him in three seconds flat.  
  
Seongwoo laughs at the way Daniel’s shoulders fall once he’s out of earshot. Being bossed around by Sally is the best initiation to the floor he can have even if she’s totally charmed.  
  
Seongwoo soon comes to learn that Sally isn’t the only one charmed by Daniel. In fact Daniel is quite the charmer in general, and despite everyone on the floor being wary of his reputation, he has most people wrapped around his little finger within weeks of being reassigned to their floor.  
  
Neither is he as awkward as he’s come across in the few encounters that Seongwoo has had with him in the past (Maybe he’s just caught Daniel on bad days or maybe he’s intimidated by Seongwoo’s beauty - it’s been known to happen).  
  
The one thing the rumour mill does have right though is that he’s quite often absent from his cubicle, more than he has any right to be working in finance at least.  
  
 Not that Seongwoo’s looking out for him exactly, it’s just that he has to past Daniel’s cubicle to go to the elevators, or the bathroom, or the kitchen or anywhere really.  
  
A couple of weeks after he’s been reassigned Seongwoo runs into Daniel in the kitchen, heating something in the microwave oven (he’s braver than Seongwoo is).  
  
“So,” Seongwoo says, making small talk as he waits for his tea to steep because both of them just standing there in silence would be way too awkward, “How’s are you enjoying life in the penthouse?”  
  
Daniel laughs, “That’s one way to look at it, I suppose.”  
  
“I’ll give you some advice,” Seongwoo tells Daniel in a friendly manner, “If you’re going to be at your desk as rarely as you are, maybe log out before leaving your computer unattended.”  
  
“Why?” Daniel asks him curiously.  
  
“Well I don’t know what the sixth floor is like but an unattended email is like an open invitation for some of the guys up here,” Seongwoo tells Daniel as he leans against the counter waiting for his tea, “Last year someone signed Jonghyun up for couples yoga at the company gym? And the instructor was so excited to have a manager sign up that Jonghyun didn’t feel like he could say no and ended up committed to three months of couples yoga.”  
  
Seongwoo doesn’t mention to Daniel that someone was most certainly him.  
  
Daniel laughs, covering his mouth with his hand as he does, and it’s such a nice sound Seongwoo feels compelled to continue, “He ended up making his assistant Hyunbin go with him, I’m not sure who hated it more honestly.”  
  
“But you have no idea who could have possible done it though it though, right?” Daniel asks him, eyes sparkling.  
  
“None,” Seongwoo tells him, straight faced.  
  
“You know,” Daniel tells him conversationally when silence settles on them again, “You have this habit of calling people out but pretending it’s a joke.”  
  
Seongwoo hums. He does do that a lot, it’s the only way he can make sure people realise he’s serious about his work whilst not earning a reputation as a buzz kill. He just didn’t think Daniel had spent enough time with him to notice.  
  
“Who says I’m pretending it’s a joke?” Seongwoo asks him, turning his back on Daniel so he can remove the teabag from his mug, “Maybe people just don’t think I can be serious.”  
  
He expects Daniel to laugh, and he does, but when he turns back around he’s looking at Seongwoo in a way that makes him feel almost exposed.  
  
“You’re a lot more complex than you pretend to be Ong Seongwoo,” Daniel tells him when the silence starts to drag.  
  
“Yeah, and you’re exactly who you seem to be,” Seongwoo jokes back, even though he gets the feeling there is a lot more to Daniel than meets the eye as well.  
  
Daniel laughs again and the awkward tension disappears as they wander back to their desks, gossiping about the awful client meeting that Jaehwan had that morning.     
  
Daniel must decide that Seongwoo is something of a friendly face because Seongwoo sees him more often after that.  
  
They’re not exactly friendly in the same way that he is with Jaehwan or Sungwoon; Daniel doesn’t come and sit in his office for a gossip and they don’t run down the street for a coffee when they need a real caffeine boost (none of that shitty watered down stuff the cafeteria serves).  
  
 They do chat whenever they happen to be in the kitchen or the elevator at the same time, and sometimes Seongwoo will hang over the top of Daniel’s cubicle to have a quick word about something or another. He doesn’t go out of his way to talk to Daniel but when they do talk it’s pleasant. That’s about all there is to it.  
  
Jaehwan seems to think otherwise.  
  
“So, you’ve gotten like quite friendly with Daniel,” he tells Seongwoo one Friday afternoon a couple of hours before the end of the day. Jaehwan is brilliant at what he does but by Friday afternoon’s he’s something of a liability.  
  
 Seongwoo knows from Daehwi that HR are about three days away from telling Jaehwan he can just go home at lunchtime on Fridays.    
  
“Well, compared to you he’s a wonderfully well adjusted human being with a genius IQ and a brilliant sense of humour,” Seongwoo deadpans not looking up from his screen because unlike Jaehwan he wants to finish his work so he doesn’t have to worry about it on Monday.  
  
“I’m just saying I’ve seen you talking to him like, twice this week,” Jaehwan says, sitting himself on the empty space on Seongwoo’s desk, having apparently decided bothering him is how he’s going to waste the rest of his day.  
  
“I’ve talked to you twice in the last hour, what’s your point?” Seongwoo asks allowing himself to be distracted because Jaehwan is relentless (and he’s been staring at SPSS so long he’s probably going cross eyed).  
  
“Well, has he revealed his secret yet? How he still has a job?” Jaehwan asks, lowering his voice but still managing to keep it ridiculously theatrical.  
  
“He does his work one would imagine,” Seongwoo says dryly, still bemused by this whole rumour. Sure Daniel is away from his desk more than most other people, and sure he seems to be friendly with everyone in the office, but as far as Seongwoo can see he always gets his work finished so what’s the big deal?  
  
“How can he do his work if he’s never at his desk?” Jaehwan asks leaning closer to Seongwoo.  
  
“He’s not never at his desk,” Seongwoo says with a roll of his eyes getting up from his chair and peering over all the cubicles.  
  
Despite Daniel’s height he’s far enough away from Seongwoo that he can’t see if he’s in his cubicle at the moment. “Oi, Kang Daniel,” Seongwoo calls out across the office, pretty sure he’s in there ( at least he was when Seongwoo went to the bathroom fifteen minutes ago).  
  
Daniel’s head pops up from over the partition, looking around till he spots Seongwoo and grins, “Yes?”  
  
Seongwoo hadn’t actually thought much past potentially proving to Jaehwan that Daniel was there so he doesn’t actually have anything to say.  
  
“Nothing. Have a good afternoon,” he tells Daniel with a smile.  
  
Daniel let’s out a loud laugh, “You too,” he salutes Seongwoo playfully before the two of them return to their desks.  
  
No one on the floor bats an eyelash at the exchange; after all Friday Afternoon’s are a special brand of casual around the office (he’d never consider yelling like that at any other time).  
  
“Gross,” Jaehwan shakes his head in mock disgust as Seongwoo sits back down.  
  
“He’s at his desk right now,” Seongwoo says, ignoring Jaehwan’s melodramatic little spat.  
  
“Whatever,” Jaehwan rolls his eyes like Seongwoo has personally offended him.  
  
Seongwoo smiles brightly at him, trying to project as much smug satisfaction Jaehwan’s way as he can.  
  
“Just you wait, one day he’ll let you down, the rose tinted glasses will come off and you’re realise I was right all along,” Jaehwan says with a shake of his head.  
  
“There are so many things wrong with that I don’t know where to start,” Seongwoo looks at Jaehwan suspiciously wondering why he cares so much.  
  
“Try,” Jaehwan says, sticking his chest out petulantly.  
  
“One I don’t really work with him ever so how is he going to let me down? Two I don’t have rose tinted glasses I just know how the office gossip mill works. Three you’re almost never right. Four you probably only care so much because you’ve got a bet running with someone,” Seongwoo says, counting off on his fingers.  
  
“Oh hey, I just remembered that I was supposed to hand this report in to Jonghyun before the weekend,” Jaehwan says, hopping off the desk like someone’s lit it on fire (and confirming there is a bet - though what it could be on Seongwoo has no idea) “I’ll see you around, bye Seongwoo.”  
  
Seongwoo shakes his head with a laugh as he watches him go before he rolls his neck and gets back to his statistical analysis.  
  
The weekend can’t come soon enough.  


  
  
  
**Stage Four: Annoyance**

  
  
  
It’s less than a week after Jaehwan’s Friday afternoon gossip that he’s proved somewhat right. It’s so quick Seongwoo would almost assume that Jaehwan was behind the whole thing if he didn’t know Jaehwan would never sabotage his work in that way.  
  
Kang Daniel might be endearing and well meaning but Seongwoo has been giving him too much credit; his reputation as someone that’s unreliable when needed is apparently very well deserved.  
  
Daniel was meant to get the budget for a presentation Seongwoo has to give to a client tomorrow morning to him yesterday afternoon so Seongwoo could work it into the presentation and know what he was talking about.  
  
Seongwoo knows that Daniel works later than him so when it hadn’t been in his inbox when he’d left last night he’d just given Daniel a friendly reminder as he headed out and assumed it’d be waiting for him when he started this morning.  
  
It hadn’t. Seongwoo had tried to give Daniel the benefit of the doubt; maybe he’d just forgotten to send it and Seongwoo would get it when Daniel started at nine.  
  
By midday Seongwoo still hadn’t gotten the budget and he was starting to get pissed, having sent Daniel a couple of pointed call outs hidden behind a veil of humour.  
  
 Daniel was definitely in the office, his backpack and jacket were hanging up in his cubicle, but no one Seongwoo had talked to had actually seen him all day; not even his supervisor knew where he was.  
  
At one o’clock Jaehwan had tried to pull an ‘I told you so’ moment and promptly fled after Seongwoo had thrown a water bottle at him. At two Jonghyun had to force him to take a break because he was “scaring the interns.”  
  
At one point Seongwoo seriously considers setting up shop in Daniel’s cubicle but he has other work he needs to be doing at his desk and there’s really no guarantee that Daniel will be back any time soon.  
  
By four o’clock Seongwoo has had enough. He stalks over to Daniel’s cubicle with an angrily worded note, all pretences of friendly jokes long forgotten, which he lays over the keyboard.  
  
Even if Daniel handed the budget to him right now he’ll be here until at least midnight and Seongwoo’s not confident that Daniel’s even got it done.  
  
“If Daniel comes back to his cubicle,” Seongwoo tells Daniel’s cubicle neighbour (he doesn’t actually know the guys name) making sure to convey how royally pissed off he is “Tell him I am going to rip his fingernails out one by one with a staple remover.”  
  
The kid gulps, “Umm, actually in those words?”  
  
“Yes. Word for word,” Seongwoo tells him humourlessly since that’s about what he feels like doing right now, “And you also tell him that if he doesn’t get that campaign budget to me by close of business today that will be the least of his problems.”  
  
“Close of business is in forty minutes,” The kid points out to Seongwoo like Seongwoo doesn’t know that.  
  
“Hence the staple remover,” Seongwoo tells him with a withering look.  
  
The kid nods, “right. Okay. Staple remover. Seongwoo. Campaign budget,” he says making notes on a notebook that he’s got sitting open on his desk, “I’ll pass it on.”  
  
“Good,” Seongwoo nods before he stomps back to his desk, planning the complaint he’s going to launch with HR.  
  
He can’t do anything else for his presentation without the final budget and so he has nowhere productive to channel his anger, letting it fester until he almost bites Doyeon’s head off when she wishes him goodnight as she leaves.  
  
It’s 5:05 and Seongwoo is wondering what the fuck he’s going to do, he’s definitely going to lose his job over this (especially since the last presentation he did to this particular client did not go over well), when Daniel bursts into the cubicle.  
  
“Seongwoo, I’m so sorry,” Daniel says looking genuinely apologetic and earnest. Seongwoo’s starting to thing that’s how he always looks though because despite how good Daniel is at apologising he keeps pulling the same shit.  
  
Seongwoo grunts, not sure he’s able to speak to Daniel without tearing him a new one.  
  
“I know I was supposed to get the budget to you last night, and I almost had it finished it just needed one more thing done when I left for the day and I thought it would only take me five minutes this morning but I kept getting distracted and then I forgot and I’m so so-,” he says, words tripping over each other.  
  
“Stop,” Seongwoo tells him trying to keep his voice as level as possible. If Daniel gives him another one of his empty apologies then Seongwoo is probably going to punch him.  
  
“Please tell me you’ve at least finished it now,” he says after taking a deep breath.  
  
“Yes,” Daniel says meekly, placing a neat stack of papers onto the desk next to Seongwoo, “I’m really sorry, I am.”  
  
“Okay,” Seongwoo tells him hoping that Daniel reads his mood and gets lost so Seongwoo can at least try and pull this together quick enough that he gets a chance to head home before the morning.  
  
Daniel apparently has no self preservation instincts though because he starts to dig himself a hole. “I really am sorry Seongwoo, I didn’t think,” Daniel starts to say before trailing off.  
  
“Didn’t think what?” Seongwoo asks, eyebrows raised mockingly, “Didn’t think I would mind?”  
  
Seongwoo hopes that’s not what Daniel was thinking because Seongwoo’s not sure he can think of something that he would find more insulting than that.  
  
Seongwoo doesn’t mind people having fun at the office - god knows he himself probably pushes things a bit far sometimes - but when it comes at the expense of actually getting work done that’s inexcusable.  
  
Seongwoo has a reputation to uphold, he has work to do, and he takes it seriously. If Daniel really thought that he wouldn’t mind not having the most important part of his presentation he was either stupider or more self centred than the rumours had ever implied.  
  
“No, that’s not what I meant,” Daniel says, looking down at his feet.  
  
Seongwoo doesn’t want to yell or sneer or be nasty but the longer Daniel hangs around in his office wasting his time and saying the exact wrong thing the harder it is for Seongwoo to keep himself mildly civilised.  
  
“This budget is for one of our biggest clients tomorrow,” Seongwoo tells Daniel, tapping a fingernail on the stack of papers, “I can’t half ass this it’s literally millions of dollars. Millions of dollars and I don’t have time to be properly prepared now.”  
  
“Is there anything I can do to help?” Daniel asks him hesitantly, looking thoroughly chastised.  
  
“I think you’ve probably done enough to help, no?” Seongwoo asks him hating how pissy and petty he sounds but unable to stop himself.  
  
“Right, sorry again,” Daniel says, nodding his head before he disappears back to his cubicle, probably to pack up and go home; something that Seongwoo can’t do.  
  
Seongwoo sighs, cracks his shoulders and arms himself with the biggest mug he can find to fill with coffee. Then he gets down to work.  
  
The thing that gets him is grudgingly has to admit Daniel has done well. The budget is more detailed than Seongwoo has ever gotten from finance for this sort of presentation before.  
  
If Daniel had given it to him when he was supposed to then he would have been impressed and probably bought him a coffee as a thank you or something, a lot of thought and analysis had gone into it, more than Daniel was required to do.  
  
It saps a little bit of his burning fury but not his annoyance (or the resentment he’s trying to pretend he isn’t feeling).  
  
It will make his job easier that’s for sure, but Seongwoo would have preferred a less detailed budget this morning so he could have gone home and slept.  
  
When he gets up to refill his tea cup about 10pm he notices that Daniel’s computer is still on but he writes that off as Daniel just forgetting to turn it off (thinking about their conversation in the kitchen he considers doing something with Daniel’s email before deciding against it. He doesn’t have the time, and he’s not sure that he’d be able to prevent himself doing something cruel if he let himself).  
  
It’s a long night, and Seongwoo slogs away. Just when he thinks he’s almost finished about midnight he realises he’s made a mistake when accounting for the budget.  
  
It’s his own mistake, not Daniel’s (and without Daniel’s extra detail he probably would have never noticed it) but it does nothing to ease his sour feelings. Not when he realises he’s not going to get the chance to sleep.  
  
By the time the sun rises Seongwoo is finished his presentation but he his prediction was right; he doesn’t have time to go home and change let alone sleep or eat.  
  
By the time he finishes Seongwoo is running on nothing but caffeine and bitter resentment after twenty eight hours without sleep.  
  
He hopes he doesn’t see Daniel that morning because he’s not sure he could keep himself from saying something he regrets (something that would get him in trouble with HR - or worse that would disappoint Jonghyun).  
  
He cleans himself up as best he can in the gym’s bathroom - something he’s had to do more than once before (There is a reason Jonghyun has a wardrobe in his office with suits the correct size for everyone in the marketing team).    
  
When he gets back from the bathroom there’s a coffee and sandwich on his desk which he presumes Sungwoon has left there out of sympathy. It means he has time to eat as he’s running through the presentation for the final time with Jaehwan and is therefore in a slightly better mood before Doyeon is escorting the client up to the meeting room.  
  
He plasters his best customer service smile on his face, hooks up his presentation, and sells the shit out of the proposal like he’s never quite done before.    
  
Seongwoo will be damned if he put himself through such hell (physically and mentally) just to let it fall apart at the end. By the time the clients leave, looking a thousand times more satisfied than their last meeting, Seongwoo feels like at least one thing has gone right.  
  
“You literally look like you haven’t slept in a week and you’ve potentially escaped police custody,” Sungwoon tells Seongwoo as he’s leaving the meeting room.  
  
“Yeah, but somehow he managed to charm the clients despite that fact, they loved him,” Jaehwan says with pride that Seongwoo would usually feel. Right now he’s too exhausted to feel anything beyond furious.  
  
“I am going to murder Kang Daniel,” Is all Seongwoo tells the two of them, “Slowly and painfully and then when he’s dead I’ll make sure he loses his employment.”  
  
Jaehwan pats him on the back with empty platitude, “I’m sure you don’t mean that, it’s just the exhaustion speaking,” he says sounding awkward, “Maybe you just need to go home and sleep?”  
  
“I do mean that,” Seongwoo says deadly seriously, “I’ve never had a co-worker so inconsiderate in my life.”  
  
Sungwoon looks at him warily, “Didn’t you have to do a presentation with Heo Chanmi once?”  
  
“Yes,” Seongwoo answers shortly. He still stands by what he said about Daniel.  
  
“Go home Seongwoo,” Jonghyun says, coming up behind him, “You worked hard. Don’t come back until Monday.”  
  
Seongwoo nods his head in acceptance before he gathers his things together and sweeps out the office ignoring the way he thinks can feel Daniel watching him apologetically and the disappointment he’d thought he’d heard in Jonghyun’s voice.  
  
Neither of those things make sense so it must have been his sleep addled brain playing tricks on him.  


  
  
**Interlude: Tipsy & Furious**

  
  
  
(Seongwoo spends the whole of Friday afternoon sleeping before he meets up with Jaehwan and some of the other guys from work for their monthly Friday night drinks at the bar.  
  
He tries his best to let his annoyance at Daniel go. He’s not particularly successful, especially as he drinks more.  
  
“Can you believe he tried to say that he didn’t think I’d mind? In what world would you think someone wouldn’t mind you forgetting to give them the information they need for a really important client presentation the next day? What kind of bullshit?” Seongwoo asks furiously.  
  
“That does would pretty inconsiderate,” Dongmin agrees easily, patting Seongwoo on the hand sympathetically.  
  
“Or, maybe I come across like I don’t care about work?” Seongwoo asks, the thought having just occurred to him, “Do I really come across like that?” He asks Dongmin, feeling a strange prickling behind his eyes that must be related to sleep deprivation.  
  
“No, everyone knows you’re dedicated to your job,” Dongmin reassures him, pushing Seongwoo’s drink across the table towards Jaehwan and slightly out of his reach.  
  
“Clearly not,” Seongwoo sighs, laying his head on Dongmin’s shoulder with a sigh. Dongmin just hums and runs his fingers through his hair.  
  
-  
  
“Can you believe that Daniel gets away with not doing any work?” Seongwoo asks Doyeon a couple of hours later. He’s leaning his weight slightly against her and has to admit he’s probably had a little bit too much alcohol.  
  
“Well I’m not sure he’s not doing any work,” Doyeon says carefully, “Since obviously his work is getting done.”  
  
“Yeah but do we have any proof it’s done by him?” Seongwoo asks waving his arms around wildly and causing Doyeon to stumble.  
  
A couple of seconds later there’s someone else supporting him as Doyeon steps back.  
  
“I think it’s time to go home yeah?” Minhyuk asks sounding amused by something. Seongwoo wants to know what’s so funny, he could do with a joke right now.  
  
“Oh don’t worry, it’s just you,” Minhyun says with  a laugh having apparently now developed the power to read thoughts. Seongwoo wishes he got superpowers when he drank  
  
 “Let’s track Jaehwan down and get you home,” Doyeon says, patting his cheek, taller than him in her stupid heels.  
  
-  
  
  
“You know, maybe you should let it go,” Jaehwan tells Seongwoo carefully as the two of them share a cab away from the bar.  
  
“What? The fact I almost lost my job because Daniel was stupid?” Seongwoo asks petulantly, leaning against the cab window.  
  
“You didn’t almost lose your job,” Jaehwan tells him with a huff, “And Daniel said he was sorry didn’t he?”  
  
“Doesn’t matter. You were the one that was insistent he was going to fuck up anyway,” Seongwoo tells him, kicking out with his leg but just managing to bang his knee on the cab’s centre console.  
  
“That wasn’t what I was saying at all,” Jaehwan sighs sounding long suffering when really Seongwoo is the one suffering.  
  
“I’m just saying I was in a bit of trouble there, and it was totally his fault,” Seongwoo says. Maybe it was slightly his fault actually because he hadn’t bugged Daniel despite knowing his reputation. A mistake he won’t make twice.  
  
“Well, you did really well in the end, out of spite knowing you, so maybe you should thank him,” Jaehwan says, voice light. His humour is not good, he should leave the jokes to Seongwoo.  
  
“Jaehwan I will vomit on you,” Seongwoo says, feeling so incredibly exhausted on an emotional level as well as physically.  
  
“Bitterness is just going to hurt you,” Jaehwan tells him softly.  
  
Seongwoo doesn’t hear him, too busy snoring against the window).  
  
  
(By unspoken agreement no one mentions anything that transpired at their night out again)  
  


  
**Stage Five: Frosty**

  
  
  
When he gets into work on Monday morning there’s another coffee on his desk and Jonghyun ambushes him as soon as he spots him.  
  
“Your presentation went really well, they’re ready to fully commit,” He says, that contagious grin of his painted across his face.  
  
“Fully commit? Really? I thought we were just tendering?” Seongwoo asks in shock. Their pitch hadn’t been complete, they were just putting in a tender aiming to end up on the short list. Seongwoo hadn’t even considered that they might get the job off the back of that presentation - it was practically unheard of.  
  
“We were supposed to but you really impressed them, especially the detail of your budget and the way you linked that to their needs,” Jonghyun says, knowing look in his eye.  
  
“Well damn,” Seongwoo says feeling proud and relieved and all round joyful.  
  
“Congratulations,” Jonghyun tells him with an enthusiastic hand shake, “You really outdid yourself.”  
  
“Enough to get a raise?” Seongwoo asks hopefully, though he’s mostly joking.  
  
“Well that you’d have to bring up with Minhyun,” Jonghyun laughs, making small talk for a few minutes before he wanders off; he probably has an important meeting to attend to or something.  
  
He’s in such a good mood at Jonghyun’s praise and winning the contract that he almost forgets his annoyance at Daniel.  
  
Almost until he walks past his cubicle and notices that once again he’s sitting there not working with yet another person sitting on his desk talking to him about what cannot be work seeing as he’s not even logged into his computer.  
  
It’s not pettiness so much as principle that leads him to ignore the smile that Daniel shoots his way as he spots him.  
  
It’s that principle (and maybe some pride) that results in a pattern of that forming. If Daniel greets him he’ll return the greeting but he won’t go out of his way to talk to him and more than once he’s feigns absorption in his phone or conversation just so he can pretend he hasn’t seen Daniel.  
  
(Maybe there’s some pettiness involved if Seongwoo’s completely honest with himself but he feels like he has the right to be petty. It’s not some minor disagreement after all, his job was on the line).  
  
Soon enough he starts to see Daniel less and less.  
  
As he tells Jaehwan whenever he has the nerve to bring it up, it’s not that Seongwoo puts in a lot of effort to avoid Daniel over the next few weeks. It’s just that with the client meeting having gone so well Seongwoo needs to spend a lot of time with the R &D team on the level below them, adjusting the product slightly to meet the clients specifications.  
  
A new normal develops. Like Daniel is anyone else on the floor that Seongwoo doesn’t really know. Like but not quite the same because there’s the haze of awkwardness, like a relationship lost rather than one that never existed.  
  
Seongwoo didn’t think he really had much to do with Daniel but it’s not until he’s managed to freeze him out without really meaning to (not consciously at least) that he realises just how much Daniel had slipped into his work life. That he he realises how prevalent the light conversations in the kitchen or the playful pranking of their floor mates had become in his work day.  
  
There’s not much he can do about it.  
  
There’s not anything he wants to do about it - he doesn’t need to be close to someone so irresponsible. Things will go back to normal.  
  
If only Jaehwan (and Jonghyun) would stop shooting him those knowing looks  
  


  
  
**Stage Six: Thawing**

  
  
Seongwoo curses to himself as he let’s himself into the office after eleven on a Friday night, somehow having managed to leave his phone at work (he hopes he’s left it at work because otherwise he has no idea where it possibly could be).  
  
Thankfully his phone is sitting right next to his keyboard on his desk (Seongwoo should probably count himself lucky that no one had pinched it with it sitting out in the open like that) so despite the almost hour long round trip he’s had to make he’s not too annoyed.  
  
He’s expecting the building to be entirely empty except for maybe the cleaning crew and some security guard so he’s more than a little startled when he notices that Daniel is still sitting in his cubicle.  
  
Seongwoo swears, no idea how on earth he missed Daniel on his way in, apparently too focused on his worry about the phone.  
  
Daniel jumps and let’s out a little yell at Seongwoo’s noise turning around in shock. Seongwoo tries not to notice the way he deflates slightly when he realises it’s Seongwoo behind him.  
  
Seongwoo does notice it though and here in his dark office at 11pm on a Friday night, only the light of Daniel’s screen to illuminate the scene he decides that he needs to make a choice.  
  
Seongwoo’s not sure he’s ever going to totally trust Daniel’s self sufficiency anymore but he doesn’t want to hold onto resentment. Not when Daniel had tried so hard to apologise.  
  
“You’re here late,” Seongwoo says, leaning against the cubicles partition wall.  
  
Daniel looks shocked for a few seconds, probably that Seongwoo is initiating conversation with him, before the expression is replaced with a sheepish smile, “Yeah, I just had some stuff to do.”  
  
“On a Friday night? Couldn’t it wait?” Seongwoo asks. Whatever it is can’t possible be more important than the budget from the other week, except apparently it is to Daniel.  
  
“I got a bit distracted today so I should probably get it done,” Daniel admits with an awkward shrug, “I don’t want to inconvenience anyone again.”  
  
Part of Seongwoo bristles at the implication that he was simply inconvenienced by Daniel’s stunt the other day, the other part of him can’t decide if Daniel is trying to call him out or if he’s just being disarmingly honest again.  
  
“Well, anything for the overtime then,” Seongwoo jokes awkwardly  
  
Daniel’s answering laugh is equally as uncomfortable at the very least, “Yeah, the overtime,” he mutters something  odd behind his words that Seongwoo can’t quite put a finger on.  
  
Seongwoo is perhaps a little surprised that Daniel of all people is working late with what went down a few weeks ago, but it’s not odd enough that he thinks about it too much. Everyone around these parts, especially in marketing and finance, have pulled a few late nights here and there.  
  
Now Seongwoo isn’t actively ignoring Daniel he notices how hesitant Daniel is being with him, like he’s afraid Seongwoo is going to rip him to shreds for any little mistake.  
  
Seongwoo feels bad about it, but his pride won’t let him apologise - not when Daniel really did make things difficult for him even if it was a mistake.  
  
“Well, don’t work too late,” Seongwoo says awkwardly since the entire atmosphere is weirdly stifling as Daniel appraises him with eyes that are more intense than Seongwoo is particularly comfortable with.  
  
“Don’t worry about me,” Daniel says with sardonic smile as if the idea that Seongwoo would worry about him is ridiculous, “I have the whole weekend to recover.”  
  
“Yeah,” Seongwoo says shuffling his feet awkwardly, “Still look after yourself, I’ll see you Monday?”  
  
It’s the closest thing to an olive branch he can bring himself to offer Daniel, not willing to examine his own behaviour in this whole situation; not yet.  
  
Apparently it’s enough if the way Daniel smiles at him is anything to go by. It’s not his joyfully blinding smile but it’s the most genuine one he’s gotten from Daniel in a while, “See you Monday.”  
  
Seongwoo leaves the office feeling like once again he has to re-evaluate what he knows about Daniel.  
  
In fact the only accurate observation he’s made about Daniel as far as he knows is that there’s more to him than the rumour mill would have them believe.

  
  
**Stage Seven: Curiosity**

  
  
So things with Daniel get slightly better. They don’t chat nearly as much as they did but Daniel has started greeting him when they pass each other again and Seongwoo tries to repay the favour.  
  
He doesn’t work with Daniel that much so it doesn’t make much of a different (he thinks).  
  
He does notice on more than one occasion Daniel sends him emails long after close of business but Seongwoo works from home sometimes, and he just assumes Daniel is making an extra effort to avoid a repeat of last time.  
  
So perhaps there was enough evidence that Seongwoo could have noticed what Daniel was doing earlier but he doesn’t, because he doesn’t care that much (A voice in his head that sounds suspiciously like Jaehwan tells him that he clearly does pay more attention to Daniel than most other people on the floor but Seongwoo ignores that voice because what does Jaehwan know anyway?).  
  
He finally does notice one evening when he’s in work late for a teleconference with Jonghyun and some client he’s off busy visiting in America. Jaehwan was supposed to be involved but had called in sick today so Seongwoo thinks he’s the only one in the office by the time the meeting wraps up at 2am.  
  
This time he’s doesn’t jump or yell when he notices the light coming from Daniel’s cubicle; more aware of his surroundings because he was so surprised last time he was in late.  
  
He is surprised to see that Daniel is apparently fast asleep, head pillowed on his arms lying on top of his keyboard.  
  
Seongwoo has no right to feel fond at the site, that would be ridiculous, but Daniel apparently just has the ability to make anyone soft (not that Seongwoo would admit it).  
  
He means to keep walking, maybe take a picture and tease Daniel about it tomorrow afternoon when he comes into the office (he’s allowed a late start because of the teleconference).  
  
Seongwoo makes the decision to keep walking and yet despite himself he finds himself in Daniel’s cubicle, attempting to wake him up (he’s probably ridiculously uncomfortable - or he will be in the morning).  
  
“Hey,” Seongwoo says softly, laying a hand on Daniel’s shoulders (not at all making note of the fact they feel as strong as they look), “Daniel!”  
  
Daniel mutters something that Seongwoo doesn’t quite catch but he steps back assuming he’s starting to wake up. It takes him a few seconds to realise that no Daniel is clearly just talking in his sleep and he rolls his eyes.  
  
Of course Daniel never stops talking, even whilst asleep.  
  
“Hey,” Seongwoo says louder, “Daniel!”  
  
He could leave him here he supposes but now that he’s committed to waking Daniel up he’d feel stupid if he just left it (even though there’s not actually anyone here to see him).  
  
In the end he turns up the speakers on Daniel’s computer up as loud as possible and blasting the computers inbuilt alarm sounds, trying not to laugh when Daniel startles awake and falls off his chair.  
  
“Seongwoo?” Daniel says, peering up at him with sleepy eyes as if he can’t quite believe it, “What are you doing here?”  
  
“I could ask you the same question,” Seongwoo says eyebrows raised in question as he steps back from Daniel’s personal space.  
  
“Oh, I just didn’t get much done today that I needed to so I’m trying to finish it now,” he explains with a self deprecating smile, eyes still half closed, “It was just, more boring than I thought it would be.”  
  
“It’s finance, it’s all piss boring,” Seongwoo explains resting his chin on the top of the partition wall as he looks down at Daniel who has made no effort to get off the floor.  
  
He let’s himself feel pleased when Daniel laughs, sleep making the sound deeper than usual.  
  
“Well,” Daniel shrugs not disputing it, “Are you really in the place to judge working for the Manipulation Department.” He smiles like he’s pleased at the jab.  
  
Seongwoo is half surprised that Daniel has metaphorical claws so to speak and let’s himself laugh which makes Daniel smile even brighter (Seongwoo hopes he’s mocking the reputation the marketing department has and doesn’t think that’s an original joke).  
  
“Just because I’m the glamorous face of the company,” Seongwoo says with a grin trying not to yawn because he’s exhausted, but not quite ready to go  
  
Daniel laughs again pulling himself back onto his chair, but then surprised Seongwoo when he adds “Well, can’t argue with that,” so quietly that Seongwoo doesn’t think he was meant to hear it.  
  
He could press Daniel on that but decides against it for reasons he’s not sure of.  
  
“Do you make a habit of this then?” Seongwoo asks him, not quite ready to go home and leave the warmest encounter he’s had with Daniel in a long time. Daniel seems warm and Seongwoo is endeared by it even though it’s nothing particularly exciting as conversations go.  
  
“Falling asleep at the office or working late?” Daniel asks him with a cheerful grin like he hadn’t just been cringing out of his skin a few minutes ago.  
  
“Both?” Seongwoo asks.  
  
“I try not to sleep here too often but I like working late,” Daniel admits with a little shuffle on his seat that implies he’s not being entirely honest, “There’s no one around to be a distraction.”  
  
“The overtimes good as well huh?” Seongwoo asks Daniel laughing at the way he flushes.  
  
“Yeah, I do it for the overtime,” Daniel says looking down to his left in a way that’s only totally shifty.  
  
Daniel must be raking it in with the overtime if he works late as often as Seongwoo is starting to suspect he does. He’s half jealous he’s not thought of the scheme himself (although he really doesn’t have the dedication to sit at work for twelve hours a day - he’s not that financially desperate).  
  
If HR haven’t pulled him up on it yet then Seongwoo isn’t going to say anything.  
  
“Well, overtime or not I don’t think anyone’s going to be pleased if you work all the way through the night,” Seongwoo tells him  
  
“I didn’t know you cared,” Daniel tells him eyes shining brightly as if he’s genuinely touched by Seongwoo’s words. He’s clearly a better actor that Seongwoo gave him credit for, “You’ve got a reputation,” he adds, voice lowered even though there’s literally no one around to overheard.  
  
“Yes I know I’m gorgeous and untouchable and hilarious in a savage way,” Seongwoo says with a wave of his hand, he’s heard the gossip - Jaehwan makes sure that he stays up to date even though he doesn’t care for it much himself.  
  
“Dedicated, hard-working, unconcerned with the rumour mill, kinder than you’ll admit,” Daniel continues, logging off of his computer and not meeting Seongwoo’s eye.  
  
“Well Daniel, you’ve clearly been paying attention to me,” Seongwoo says with a laugh. He doubts that’s true, Daniel spends so much time gossiping with people he probably knows more than Jaehwan does, “I’d say I’m surprised but honestly I’m really not, I’d pay attention to me too.”  
  
Daniel laughs again though it’s slightly more uncomfortable this time. Maybe he’s still half asleep or maybe Seongwoo’s made him a bit uncomfortable with the ego humour, he makes a note to dial it down.  
  
“Hey,” Seongwoo offers Daniel spontaneously as he’s watching Daniel gather his stuff, “You know the couch in Jonghyun’s office?”  
  
“Yeah,” Daniel says looking at him strangely, “It’s ugly and takes up like half his office, it’s hard to miss.”  
  
“It’s huge because it’s a pull out bed,” Seongwoo tells him, distinctly remembering the argument that Jonghyun and Minhyun had over how much overtime Jonghyun worked himself - the rare manager that had problems delegating because he didn’t want to overwhelm anyone - and how the couch had appeared in Jonghyun’s office the next day.  
  
Come to think of it Seongwoo’s still not sure if that was Minhyun or Jonghyun’s idea of a joke.  
  
“Oh,” Daniel says looking at Seongwoo like he’s not quite sure what Seongwoo is trying to say.  
  
“If you’re ever here late at night, I’m just saying I’m sure it’s much more comfortable than your keyboard,” Seongwoo offers, sure that Jonghyun wouldn’t mind without even having to ask him.  
  
“I don’t want to impose,” Daniel says hesitantly, slinging his backpack over his shoulders.  
  
“It’s Jonghyun. Pretty sure you could tell him you were moving into his house and he wouldn’t consider it an imposition,” Seongwoo says with a roll of his eyes.  
  
“He’d probably insist you take his bed,” Daniel mutters under his breath.  
  
Seongwoo laughs loudly, unable to help himself because he wasn’t expecting such a dry observation from Daniel.  
  
Daniel’s smile is once again pleased.  
  
“Also the couch less likely to end up in disaster,” Seongwoo says as the two of them start walking towards the elevator simultaneously without any sort of discussion, “What if you like sent a keyboard smash email in your sleep or something?”  
  
“You really want me to sleep on the couch huh?” Daniel asks with a cheeky grin, “Should I be worried?”  
  
“Don’t think too highly of yourself,” Seongwoo rolls his eyes, “I’m just looking out for this companies best interests, we don’t want you suing for workers comp because of a back injury.”  
  
“Well that just breaks my heart,” Daniel says, clutching at his heart before he honestly skips the last few steps towards the lifts so he can press the button with a flourish.  
  
Seongwoo shakes his head and tries not to laugh. Kang Daniel is the most ridiculous person in this office, and that’s saying something because there are some characters that work here (it’s probably a condition of employment).  
  
They part ways down in the parking garage, and that would be that.  
  
Things well and truly go back to how they were before Seongwoo’s little outburst.  
  
That would be that and Seongwoo would have taken Daniel at his word about working late and just been glad be had someone else to count as a genuine ally in his workplace.  
  
That would be that except a couple of weeks later he makes a joke to Daehwi about Daniel’s overtime, and Daehwi looks at him like he’s gone mad.  
  
“Daniel doesn’t work overtime, like ever,” Daehwi tells him slowly like he thinks Seongwoo is particularly stupid or pulling one of his infamous jokes.  
  
“I’ve seen him here late at night at least three times,” Seongwoo argues because there’s no way he imagined those encounters.  
  
“No really, Daniel works exactly eight hours a day,” Daehwi tells him bringing up something (presumably Daniel’s timecard) on the screen, “I’m sure of this because it’s kind of a running joke how he’s never once been a minute over or a minute under time.”  
  
“Really?” Seongwoo asks. It’s not that he doesn’t believe Daehwi but he believes his eyes more.  
  
“Really. I’m not supposed to show you this but,” Daehwi shrugs unconcerned before he twists his computer screen slightly so Seongwoo can see it, “See 9:30 - 6:00 pretty much every day,”  
  
Daehwi is right that’s what Daniel’s time card shows.  
  
“Huh,” Seongwoo says unable to argue with Daehwi when the time card shows something entirely different to what Seongwoo knows is the truth.  
  
He let’s the subject drop, feeling like if he pushed it then it would be somewhat of a betrayal of Daniel’s trust because he’s clearly not doing it for the overtime.  
  
So for whatever reason Daniel is working twelve plus hour days (Seongwoo is thinking there’s a huge emphasis on the plus) but doesn’t want the recognition or the overtime for it.  
  
Now that is a mystery that piques Seongwoo’s interest.  


  
  
**Stage Seven: Realisation**

  
  
Once Seongwoo has decided that Daniel is a mystery that needs solved it takes him all of two minutes to come up with his hypothesis.  
  
It’s not hard to guess, when you’re paying attention, Seongwoo decides.  
  
His first clue comes when he’s sitting on the spare chair in Daniel’s office, going through some budget details for the next client meeting.  
  
Things are going more productively that Seongwoo could have hoped. Daniel might be in finance but somewhere along the way he’s picked up a well rounded set of general business skills so he can keep up with all aspects of Seongwoo’s proposal from R &D through to distribution and even has a suggestion or two to offer.  
  
They’ve just about wrapped up, conversation moving on to music when there’s a hesitant knock on the door frame.  
  
It’s the intern from the sixth floor that had directed Seongwoo , he recognises her bright hair colour.  
  
“Sorry to interrupt Daniel,” She says, looking at Seongwoo in a way that’s loaded with more meaning than he can really decipher, “I can come back later?”  
  
“No, we’re just about done here,” Seongwoo says tapping his heels together.  
  
He expects her to wait for him to leave before she starts gossiping or confiding in Daniel or whatever it is Daniel actually does when he’s not working.  
  
She doesn’t.  
  
“We need your help again,” She says like it’s an emergency.  
  
“With what?” Daniel asks her with a bright smile. Seongwoo thinks he’s probably imagining the slight dropping of Daniel’s posture, like he’s disappointed or exhausted.  
  
“The light in the kitchen is broken again,” She answers, still looking at Seongwoo out of the corner of her eye.  
  
Seongwoo has no idea what he was expecting her to say but it wasn’t that.  
  
“Oh is it?” Daniel asks her, looking at Seongwoo as if he’s urging him to leave. Seongwoo doesn’t, just crosses his arms over his chest and settles in for this conversation.  
  
“Yeah, and it’s one of those special ones? I don’t think we have any more in storage and we kind of need the kitchen you know, so…” she trails off.  
  
Daniel starts to get out of his chair but before he’s more than half way up Seongwoo asks her, “Oh, did you need help on how to lodge a building services request then?”  
  
Daniel sits back down with a thump.  
  
“Oh,” the intern says mouth literally forming an o, “Well, umm.”  
  
“Because we have an entire division that’s job is to deal with blown lights along with literally anything wrong with the building,” Seongwoo says, eyebrow raises as a suspicion starts to build in the back of his mind.  
  
“It’s just, sometimes they can take a while?” She says, looking at Daniel as if she’s expecting him to jump in and save her.  
  
“Sure they can, but if it’s that urgent there must be someone on your floor who actually uses that kitchen who knows how to change a light bulb,” Seongwoo says with the most polite smile he can muster, “ I’m sure you didn’t come all the way up here just to ask Daniel to do it?”  
  
“No, of course not,” she says which they all know is a lie because that’s what she literally just asked from him not two minutes ago.  
  
“Well then, a building service request? Did you need help?” Seongwoo asks her keeping the smile plastered across his face.  
  
“Oh no, it’s okay. I’ll ask someone on the floor,” She says biting her lip, “Sorry for the inconvenience,” she nods her head before scampering away.  
  
Seongwoo isn’t sure whether to laugh or saying something to Daniel about being such a pushover.  
  
“I kind of see why people say you’re intimidating now,” Daniel says with a laugh that’s awkward, like he’s expecting Seongwoo to scold him or something.  
  
“Yeah, a lot of rumours are starting to make sense,” Seongwoo agrees with an easy smile.  
  
At least Seongwoo thinks he knows what’s going on here. He thinks he knows why Daniel has a reputation as never being at his desk and why he works so much overtime, though he’s going have to observe more to make sure he’s on the right track.  
  
And then, he’s going to need to a plan of attack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know how sometimes there's a fic that literally will not leave you alone, even when you try and write other things (for example Jonghyun's Eleven or my Exchange fic) all you can think about is that fic?
> 
> Yeah this was that for me so I have no idea what it is so far? But I just wanna write it and publish it so that I stop playing around with it and can focus on trying to get ahead on J11 before Nano Season Starts.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s been over a month and this chapter ended up way longer than I intended and way longer than it needed to be (story of my life) and I don’t know what to say.
> 
> Honestly I struggled to get the words for this chapter down so much in general (as anyone who ever talks to me online will know - whether they're into kpop or not) but today I turned my internet off, put Perfect Velvet on repeat and just wrote. (And as always 2.0 the editing of this is probably not great it’s 4am and I am tired)

**Step One: Hypothesis**

  
  
Even though Seongwoo is pretty sure he has an idea of what’s going on with Daniel after the lightbulb incident he wants to be absolutely sure before he makes his guess.  
  
He spends the afternoon thinking about all the little clues. About the overtime and the sheepish smile and the way Daniel sometimes looks like he’s carrying the world on his shoulders when he thinks no one is looking. He thinks about the way Daniel’s smile dims just slightly when someone asks him to do something and the way he always looks suspicious when someone says his name.  
  
He thinks long and hard and gets almost nothing done (the hypocrisy is not lost on him).  
  
“You look deep in thought,” Doyeon tells him at one point, sticking her head into his cubicle, “So you can’t be working.”  
  
“I’m at work, I’m working,” Seongwoo protests even though he’s been staring at his inbox for the last hour.  
  
“Sure you are,” Doyeon says skeptically, “Which is why you’re still at your desk even though you promised to give me a ride at the end of shift which was half an hour ago.”  
  
Seongwoo looks at the clock convinced she’s pranking him only to discover yes it really is 5:30.  Apparently he’s been staring at his inbox for a lot longer than an hour.  
  
“I was so caught up in work I didn’t notice the time,” Seongwoo lies through his teeth knowing that Doyeon knows him too well to believe him.  
  
“You’re lucky I really don’t care,” She says looking down at her nails to show exactly how much she doesn’t care - a habit she picked up when she was about 13 and hasn’t dropped since, “But I do care that we’re going to be late to meet Hyelim for dinner and she’s going to blame me.”  
  
“Okay, hold your horses,” Seongwoo tells her, scrambling to gather all his things, “Give me five minutes,”  
  
“I’ll give you two,” She says, tapping her foot.  
  
It takes him three.  
  
They bump into Daniel at the lifts, “I finished everything I had to do today on time,” Daniel tells him brightly, “So I get to leave before the sun sets.”  
  
“Exciting,” Doyeon tells him sarcastically, still slightly annoyed about how late they’re running.  
  
“I’m glad,” Seongwoo tells Daniel with a smile ignoring the look that Doyeon is giving him. He’s not going to encourage her because she’s probably already planning to interrogate him later.  
  
(She doesn’t - mostly because she gets distracted at dinner by news of her sister’s promotion).  
  
That little conversation though is just another piece in the puzzle that’s coming together in Seongwoo’s mind. Another piece of evidence that leads towards a single conclusion.  
  
There’s only one thing Seongwoo wants to check before he commits to his hypothesis (He was never very good at science but the idea of a hypothesis has taken root over his brain over the years until it’s warped to something he used to make decisions - a bastardisation of the actual scientific concept itself).  
  
He just needs to see it with his own two eyes.  
  
Seongwoo waits a few days to approach Daniel, not wanting to make it too obvious.  
  
“Hey, Daniel,” Seongwoo asks him around lunch time on day, when he’s determined enough time has passed that Daniel’s mostly forgotten about the lightbulb incident   “Are you busy?”  
  
“You have no idea,” Daniel groans, turning in his chair to face Seongwoo. He smiles a quick greeting but it’s the weakest smile Seongwoo has seen from him.  
  
Seongwoo almost feels guilty for what he’s about to ask Daniel as he hums a sympathetic noise. Almost but not quite because he knows he’s not really going through with it.  
  
“Ahh it sucks that you’re busy but do you have a second to spare?” Seongwoo asks him feigning sympathy as badly as he can.  
  
“Okay,” Daniel says with a smile that’s more genuine, “what’s up?”  
  
“Do you have a free second to go through some stuff in the archives for me?” Seongwoo asks him. It’s so out of character for him to ask such a simple thing of anyone, especially without a really good excuse that he feels nervous he’s about to be questioned on it.  
  
Daniel’s only been around this floor in a different department for a few months though so judging by the way his face falls he doesn’t realise.  
  
“Sure,” Daniel says with a sigh looking at Seongwoo as if he’s…disappointed almost. Which doesn’t really make a lot of sense from the observations Seongwoo has made. Daniel may not like everything he’s asked to do but he tried not to make it obvious.  
  
Seongwoo finds that he does actually feel guilty for putting that look on Daniel’s face regardless of whether or not he understands it.  
  
“Are you sure? I don’t want to be a bother if you’re busy?” Seongwoo asks giving Daniel an out that pretty much anyone else would seize on (most other people would have refused in the first place - the archive is an awful palce).  
  
“No,” Daniel shakes his head, squaring his shoulders and plastering a smile on that Seongwoo might almost believe was genuine, “It’s fine I can do it for you.”  
  
Seongwoo looks at him long and hard until Daniel is fidgeting in his chair.  
  
Then he smiles.  
  
“On second thought it’s not fair to you and Jaehwan was complaining earlier that he was bored, so I’ll see if he can do it for me,” Seongwoo tells him. Jaehwan started on it half an hour ago but Daniel doesn’t ever need to know that.  
  
“Oh, alright then,” Daniel tells him with an odd expression on his face, “sorry.”  
  
“You’re busy doing your job,” Seongwoo can’t help but tell him pointedly, “there is absolutely nothing you need to apologise for.”  
  
“Still, I’m sorry,” Daniel looks genuinely apologetic.  
  
“No problem” Seongwoo insists, giving Daniel a cheeky little salute, “Good luck with your work,” he says before walking back to his own cubicle.  
  
Nothing about the exchange was subtle but that’s okay, he’s pretty sure Daniel is confused and didn’t get any particular insights out of the conversation.  
  
Plus it’s not like Seongwoo needed any further proof but he got the reaction he expected, the confirmation that his hunch is right.    
  
So Seongwoo’s hypothesis is this: Daniel is never at his desk and works ridiculous hours not because he’s lazy but because he has a chronic inability to say no to people.  
  


  
  
**Step Two: Observation**

  
  
The name of the boy who is Daniel’s cubicle neighbour is Bae Jinyoung.  
  
Seongwoo knows this because he had to promise Daehwi to buy him coffee everyday for a week in exchange for his name (something he wouldn’t even have to do if someone in HR hadn’t had the bright idea to remove the cubical name tags about eight months ago - not even Minhyun can give Seongwoo an answer as to why that happened).  
  
Seongwoo’s pretty sure it’ll be worth it.  
  
He waits until he knows Daniel has gone to lunch in the cafeteria (which means he’ll be waylaid at least twice on his way back), until he approaches Jinyoung.  
  
He raps his fist on the side of Jinyoung’s cubicle wall, causing him to start and look up at Seongwoo surprised.  
  
“Oh, you’re staple remover guy,” Jinyoung says looking at Seongwoo warily, “What’s Daniel done this time?”  
  
“Daniel hasn’t done anything,” Seongwoo reassures him, taking the empty seat in the cubicle despite not being invited in, “I’m here to talk to you.”  
  
Jinyoung gulps, “Uhh, are you going to remove my fingernails with a stapler? Because I’m pretty sure I haven’t forgotten something you asked me to do but if I did I’m really sorry.”  
  
“I’m not going to remove your fingernails with a stapler,” Seongwoo reassures him. He’s itching to make a joke about how it would be much more painful with a letter opener but since he’s never really talked to Jinyoung before (apart from to threaten Daniel) it probably wouldn’t be appropriate.  
  
He’s sure Jaehwan would never let him live it down if he was reported to HR over Kang fucking Daniel (which is rich because Seongwoo has never been reported to HR and Jaehwan has at least twice that he knows of).  
  
“Okay,” Jinyoung looks visibly relieved if still slightly wary of Seongwoo (he’s not sure he can blame the kid), “So what can I do for you?”  
  
“You’re in the graduate program right?” Seongwoo asks, even though he already knows this because Daehwi told him.  
  
“Yeah,” Jinyoung nods, still looking confused by the conversation he’s found himself part of.  
  
“Which rotation are you on?” Seongwoo asks him. That’s information that Daehwi had refused to provide him - he’d called it ‘confidential’ though Seongwoo’s pretty sure he was just being a brat.  
  
“Finance is my second, I was in HR first,” Jinyoung answers, not quite meeting Seongwoo’s eyes.  
  
“Do you enjoy finance?” Seongwoo asks him curiously. He can’t see why anyone would enjoy finance but apparently there are people that do.  
  
“It’s okay,” Jinyoung shrugs noncommittally. That’s clearly a no that he doesn’t want to voice for fear of being overheard and thrown out of the graduate program (and irrational fear - when Jihoon was in the graduate program Seongwoo’s pretty sure he didn’t go a day without complaining about how much he hated marketing even though he had an unfair knack for it).  
  
“If you could pick any department for the last rotation which one would you pick?” Seongwoo asks him, leaning forward just slightly to make Jinyoung feel like he can trust him with a secret.  
  
Seongwoo’s gotten awfully good at subtle body language manipulation over his career.  
  
Jinyoung looks down at the desk before looking up at Seongwoo, eyes fixed on his shoulder this time, “I’ve always wanted to give marketing a try? But I hear that it’s really hard to get a spot in it, so something like facilities would be fine.”  
  
That’s got to be a lie - no one wants to work in facilities, it’s like being a glorified errand boy.  
  
Jinyoung is right about Marketing though - for some reason their department and the communications department is seen as ‘glamorous’ or something (it’s really fucking not - the only department that works more overtime is finance at the end of the financial year). In the end most graduates end up hating it and asking to transfer out.  
  
“I have an offer for you then Bae Jinyoung,” Seongwoo says, leaning even closer to Jinyoung because he doesn’t actually want to be overheard here.  
  
“What is it?” Jinyoung asks, looking curious despite himself.  
  
“If your serious about the marketing division I could put in a word in with Nayoung,” Seongwoo tells him conspiratorially. Nayoung does ask for input from the managers of the more popular assignments and more than once Jonghyun has asked Seongwoo his thoughts. The fact Jinyoung wants to be in marketing is going to make this easier than he thought.  
  
“What do you want in return?” Jinyoung asks, suspicious again, “Do you want me to remove Daniel’s fingernails with a staple remover?”  
  
“No, after much consideration I’ve decided that Daniel can keep his fingernails,” Seongwoo tells him with a faux sense of gravity.  
  
“I’m sure he’ll be glad to hear that,” Jinyoung mutters sarcastically under his breath.  
  
Seongwoo tries not to smile as he answers Jinyoung’s original question “It is in relation to Daniel though.”  
  
“I don’t know him that well I can’t get you a date with him,” Jinyoung says quickly, looking so traumatised that Seongwoo has to laugh. Some people in this office really are shameless if they’re trying to get the graduate to help them date Daniel.  
  
“I don’t want to date Daniel,” Seongwoo reassures him still laughing.  
  
“Alright,” Jinyoung says, looking relieved, “Then what can I help you with.”  
  
“Can you hear what’s going on in Daniel’s cubicle from yours?” Seongwoo asks him bluntly. He already knows he can see when people go into Daniel’s cubicle from the way his desk is set up but obviously people aren’t always paying attention to their surroundings when they’re in the middle of something.  
  
“You want me to stalk Daniel?” Jinyoung asks him. He doesn’t say anything else but it’s clear he thinks that’s more disturbing than the possibility of Seongwoo asking him to set up a date.  
  
“No,” Seongwoo supposes technically it could be considered a mild form of stalking although that’s not exactly his intention.  
  
“Then what do you want?” Jinyoung asks him, his previous intimidation clearly behind him either because Seongwoo promised he wasn’t ripping out any nails or because his curiosity is winning out.  
  
“You know how Daniel often gets distracted by visitors to his cubicle?” He asks Jinyoung. It’s a rhetorical question, people on other floors know Daniel is easily distracted (though very few know why Seongwoo is willing to bet).  
  
“Yes,” Jinyoung says with a long running sigh of someone that finds something particularly burdensome, “Daniel’s laugh is really loud,” he offers at Seongwoo’s questioning look as if that’s an explanation.  
  
It probably is.  
  
“Well if you’re ever bothered by someone that’s been in his office for a long time send me an IM,” Seongwoo tells him.  
  
“Umm, why would I message you?” Jinyoung asks him before rushing to add, “No offence I’m not questioning you I was just wondering.”  
  
“I don’t want to get Daniel into trouble with HR,” Seongwoo tells him earnestly even if it’s a lie. Daniel seems to be friends with Minhyun and HR know all about him - if he was going to get into trouble it would have already happened in the six months that he’s been with the company.  
  
Jinyoung looks like he doesn’t quite believe him so Seongwoo lets out an exaggerated sigh and lowers his voice again so he’s basically whispering, “Plus okay it’s really annoying when I need something from Daniel to be able to do my work and he’s busy running around doing who knows what with who the fuck knows who.”  
  
“Oh,” Jinyoung looks much more sympathetic now, “I guess I can do it,” he agrees with a determined nod, “It would be nice to get a break from the laughter. Not that there’s anything wrong with laughing, just…”  
  
“Daniel would laugh at a papercut?” Seongwoo offers dryly. He hopes that his selfish explanation and the fact Jinyoung wants that Marketing placement means that he’s going to do it without questioning Seongwoo too much or mentioning it to someone else. That’s all Seongwoo can ask for  
  
“Yeah,” Jinyoung agrees.  
  
“It’s fine, I’m working on something,” Seongwoo tells him cryptically, “To ensure that there’s no repeat of the staple remover incident.”  
  
“Yeah,” Jinyoung says, looking like everything suddenly makes sense to him, “Okay, I understand.”  
  
He gives Seongwoo a conspiratorial look like he’s going to keep his secret for him. That’s good  
  
“You don’t have to message me every time someone goes in, I don’t expect you to pay that much attention I know that you have your own work to do,” Seongwoo reassures Jinyoung.  
  
“Right, just when someone is distracting Daniel from work for a long time,” Jinyoung agrees with a nod. Which is exactly what Seongwoo meant so maybe Jinyoung did realise what Seongwoo was doing.  
  
“Well then I look forward to doing business with you,” Seongwoo says, reaching across the desk to offer Jinyoung a hand to shake.  
  
Jinyoung grins as he takes the offered hand in a firmer handshake that Seongwoo was expecting.  
  
He’s about to get up and take his leave, because Jaehwan the nosy bugger is going to wonder where he’s gone, but before he can they’re interrupted.  
  
“Hey Jinyoung,” Daniel calls from his cubicle, “Have you seen…” his head pops up over the cubicle wall they share, trailing off when he notices Seongwoo.  
  
“Oh, Seongwoo,” Daniel says looking very puzzled, “Hi?”  
  
“Hi,” Seongwoo musters the brightest smile he can to give Daniel. He seems surprised to see Seongwoo which means there’s almost no chance he was able to hear their conversation.  
  
“Jinyoung and I were just chatting about the graduate program,” Seongwoo tells Daniel. If he really does recommend Jinyoung for the marketing department then word will get out so it’s the perfect excuse to use right now. It’s not even a total lie, “But if you need him for something I’ll take me leave.”  
  
He bows to both of them before quickly returning to his desk, fending of Jaehwan’s queries of where he’d been relatively easily and getting back to his actual work (in his quest to help Daniel he doesn’t actually want to end up like Daniel again).  
  
Easy Peasy.

  
-

  
It quickly becomes apparent that despite having a pretty good idea that what was going on with Daniel that Seongwoo had under-estimated exactly how far spread the situation was.  
  
 In the two first weeks after striking his deal with Jinyoung he gets seventeen messages. Plus he knows Jinyoung isn’t even messaging him every time if the number of times he’s seen people in Daniel’s office when walking by is anything to go by.  
  
He can’t do anything every time something happens (if he did he’d never get any of his own work done and that would defeat the purpose) but it’s interesting to know the scope of the problem.  
  
The fact he just happens to need to use the bathroom or go to the kitchen a few of the times that Jinyoung has messaged him is of course a total coincidence (And the one time he needed urgent budget information from Daniel wasn’t even a lie).  
  
Seongwoo is just keeping a tally of exactly how often Daniel is interrupted. He’s also taking note of some of the more interesting interuptions  
  
There’s the time that someone wants Daniel to go shopping for the office baby shower present with her, or the time he’s asked to babysit an important clients young child (he seems to enjoy that one at the very least).  
  
Once one of the receptionists even asks him to help her move the furniture in reception to neutralise the negative energies.  
  
Seongwoo’s favourite incident though, the one he’s never going to let Daniel live down, is the time he’s asked to join the diversity reform committee.  
  
Seongwoo overhears this one personally because he’s talking with Sungwoon about a department head meeting he has to attend and they happen to pass Daniel’s cubicle.  
  
“I really don’t know if I’m qualified,” Daniel is saying, looking nervously at the woman that’s standing over him waving something in his face.  
  
“Nonsense you don’t need qualifications to be committed to diversity,” She says hands on hips. Daniel looks kind of terrified.  
  
“Really, I’m sure there are more viable candidates than me,” Daniel says scooting his chair backwards slowly so as to get away from her but not incur her wrath.  
  
“Nonsense there are no men, none, on this panel under 40. Your youthful perspective would be appreciated,” she doesn’t give him a chance to argue more (Seongwoo get’s the feeling even if Daniel said no  - which would never happen - she’d still keep going on).  
  
“Umm,” Daniel says casting his eyes around the room as if looking for an escape. That’s when he notices Seongwoo and Sungwoon sending them a wide eyed expression that screams ‘save me’.  
  
That is something Seongwoo wants nothing to do with - Daniel is on his own in that one.  
  
Seongwoo and Sungwoon walk away quickly despite Daniel’s expression because they don’t want to be roped into joining either - if Daniel’s being recruited for his ‘youth and male perspective’ they don’t want to risk being her new target - so Seongwoo doesn’t know if Daniel actually agrees in the end or someone saves him.  
  
(Whenever Seongwoo teases him about it - which is a lot - he can never get a straight answer out of Daniel whether he joined or not).  
  


  
-

  
  
“Seongwoo,” Daniel hisses one afternoon, peeking around the side of the cubicle wall like a small child playing secret agent, “Psst, Seongwoo.”  
  
“What do you want Daniel?” Seongwoo asks him trying not to laugh. That will just encourage him.  
  
“Do you, have anything you need help with? Any projects that need budgets or something?” Daniel whispers whilst still standing outside the cubicle. Seongwoo strains to hear him.  
  
“If you’re going to whisper at least come here,” Seongwoo rolls his eyes, clearing the papers he uses to dissuade unwanted visitors off the spare chair in the office.  
  
Daniel doesn’t need to be told twice, flopping into the chair with a dramatic sigh.  
  
Seongwoo knows that he’s angling to be asked what’s wrong so he doesn’t bother, just refreshes his inbox even though he has no real plans of doing anything whilst Daniel is here.  
  
Daniel sighs again. Seongwoo continues to ignore him until he gets pouty, “Seongwoo,” he whines, kicking his feet out in front of him.  
  
Seongwoo gets the feeling this is a pretty natural side of Daniel but it’s not one he’s ever seen before, despite the chronic laughter Daniel does seem to try his best to stay semi professional (that almost always fades around here by the end of the first year).  
  
“Daniel,” Seongwoo imitates, pulling a face at Daniel.  
  
Daniel giggles before he leans forward resting his elbows on Seongwoo’s desk, “Seongwoo I need your help,” he tells him solemnly.  
  
“With what?” Seongwoo asks him with a wariness that’s not entirely for dramatic effect.  
  
“Give me something important to do? Please? Do you need help with a budget or something, any upcoming projects I can help you prep for?” he asks, trying to look as pathetic as possible. It’s pretty successful.  
  
“Not really, I’m working on the TvN account, you know the one that you’ve already given me a very detailed budget for,” Seongwoo tells him. Daniel looks away for a second as he does anytime Seongwoo mentions that account (probably remembering Seongwoo’s rather harsh overreaction towards him in regards to it).  
  
“Can you pretend at least?” Daniel asks, looking back up at him.  
  
“What is this about?” Seongwoo asks suspiciously, leaning forward to meet him half way.  
  
“Eunyoung is looking for me,” Daniel admits, referring to the general manager of the procurement department.  
  
“Okay,” Seongwoo says slowly, not sure why that means Daniel needs to work for Seongwoo.  
  
“She’s probably got some terrible task she’s going to ask me to do and I don’t have the time to spare,” Daniel tells Seongwoo looking vaguely traumatised. Daniel is usually pretty willing to do whatever is asked from him, so the fact that he’s hiding from Eunyoung means that she’s got to be a new level of demanding.  
  
“If you don’t have time to spare why are you hiding in my office asking me to give you more to do? shouldn’t you be working on your own work?” Seongwoo asks him a little bit confused by the whole situation. Or at least what Daniel is hoping to get out of the whole situation.  
  
“No, because if she sees I’m busy with you she’ll go away and I can get back to work, if she catches me she’ll have me organising shit for the rest of the day,” Daniel tells him with a shudder.  
  
“Organising shit?” Seongwoo asks skeptically.  
  
“Yeah, once she had me design an entirely new file design for the head of procurement? It took me like four hours till she was satisfied with it and then when we gave it to him he didn’t even like it! I had to do it all over again, it took me an entire day,” Daniel tells him words running together like they sometimes do when he’s getting excited.  
  
“Okay,” Seongwoo says slowly. He’s not entirely sure what a business support officer does (marketing is about the only department that doesn’t have one) so maybe that was part of what Daniel was supposed to do, “If she asks you could tell her you have your own work to do.”  
  
“Seongwoo, I don’t want to die in this office,” Daniel tells him laughing in a way that’s more nervous than amused, “Then I would never be able to leave this place for all of eternity. Forever roaming the halls of Mnet Inc. My personal hell.”  
  
“Well that’s all very dramatic,” Seongwoo tells him dryly.  
  
“I would spend my days hovering over your shoulder making sure you never got any work done,” Daniel tells him petulantly.  
  
“So, like you’re doing right now?” Seongwoo asks pointedly. He’s not actually bothered by Daniel’s presence, goodness knows he could use a break, but he can’t help but point out the irony.  
  
Daniel all of a sudden looks like a kicked puppy, which doesn’t make Seongwoo feel guilty or anything, “Sorry,”  
  
“It’s fine,” Seongwoo tells him. For anyone else he’d probably be annoyed at the inconvenience but he can’t be mad at Daniel because he knows how much the guy goes through for the job.  
  
“I don’t know if I have anything that I need a budget for right now” Seongwoo racks his brains to think of anything, because whilst Daniel has gotten very good at getting budgets to him on time after last time he’s still always cutting it fine. Unfortunately he really does have all the budget information he needs right now,  “Unless you wanna do my filing for me,” He jokes.  
  
He doesn’t expect Daniel to nod eagerly. Either he really is good at pretending he’s happy to do anything (which might be his problem) or he’s that keen to avoid Eunyoung.  
  
“You don’t need to do my filing,” Seongwoo reaches out to grab Daniel’s wrist and stop him on his way out of his chair, “But you can hide out here if you need to.”  
  
“Thank you,” Daniel looks at him with earnest eyes like Seongwoo’s saved a kitten from a tree instead of let him sit in his office for half an hour (or more? Daniel’s really unclear on how long he plans to stick around).  
  
“You can, go get your own work if you want,” Seongwoo offers because he’d feel beyond awkward if Daniel was planning to just sit and watch him.  
  
“Thank you,” Daniel bows at him this time as he gets up and rushes off.  
  
Seongwoo half expects him to get waylaid and never actually come back so he’s surprised when less than two minutes later Daniel is back.  
  
He gets settled at the end of Seongwoo’s desk and goes to work without another word. Seongwoo watches him in interest for a few minutes, never having actually seen Daniel properly focused on his work, before returning to his own work.  
  
Eventually after almost half an hour he gets a message notification from Jinyoung  
  
Kim Eunyoung is looking for Daniel.  
  
“Hey, Daniel,” Seongwoo says, catching his attention with a tap on the wrist, “Tell me what you’re doing.”  
  
“Oh,” Daniel says looking confused. Seongwoo gives him a look that he hopes Daniel reads as ‘trust me’ and either it works or Daniel is just happy to follow orders because he shuffles his paper sideways so Seongwoo can see and starts explaining it.  
  
It’s a list of all the contracts in the agency as far as Seongwoo can see and the cost of their labour, “Oh,” Seongwoo says thoughtfully, “I think I might actually have something I need your help with.”  
  
“Really? I should have known there was something,” Daniel says in a way that’s probably supposed to come across as a joke. He doesn’t really succeed.  
  
“Can you show me how to break down the man hours per campaign?” Seongwoo asks him. Usually Sungwoon does it for him insisting it’s easier than teaching Seongwoo despite the fact he personally feels like it’s not actually any easier.  
  
“You want me to show you not do it for you?” Daniel asks him suspiciously.  
  
“Yeah, it’d be nice to be able to do it myself and play around with different combinations rather than ask Sungwoon every time something changes you know?” Seongwoo says. Sungwoon doesn’t mind doing it but he’s busy and sometimes Seongwoo is waiting hours for an answer that takes seconds to find.  
  
“Oh, yeah sure I can sure you,” Daniel smiles brightly getting out of his chair and hovering over his shoulder, “You just have to open Eski,” he explains.  
  
“What?” Seongwoo asks him, assuming that’s some kind of computer program but having no idea beyond that.  
  
“It’s the HR application, here,” Daniel leans over his shoulder shoving his hand off the mouse so that he can control the computer.  
  
Seongwoo is watching Daniel navigate across the applications on his computer when someone clears their throat behind them.  
  
Daniel jumps back, managing to hit Seongwoo in the shoulder with his elbow in the process. He apologises profusely despite Seongwoo’s insistence he’s fine before he turns to greet Eunyoung who is smiling. The way Daniel was talking about her Seongwoo expected her to be more intimidating.  
  
“Daniel how are you liking it up here?” She asks him with what seems like genuine interest.  
  
“It’s good, the people are nice,” Daniel tells her clasping his hands behind his back like a child talking to a school principal.  
  
“Not as nice as we are I assume,” She says with a laugh.  
  
“No of course not,” Daniel laughs awkwardly, glancing at Seongwoo out of the corner of his eye.  
  
“Well, I can see your busy” she says looking at Seongwoo oddly. It’s a look he gets a lot around these parts and he can never figure out why - he’s not that intimidating, “So ignore the email I sent you I’ll get one of the interns to do it.”  
  
The fact that people are asking Daniel to do work that should be delegated to the interns is yet another reason that this entire situation is nonsensical.  
  
“Okay, sorry Eunyoung,” Daniel says. Seongwoo wants to slap him, Daniel should not be apologising for not being able to do work that isn’t supposed to be his in the first place.  
  
“See you around Daniel,” She says, sending a nod in Seongwoo’s direction before she walks away as quickly as she came.  
  
“Crisis averted,” Daniel says getting up on his tip toes to watch her leave. Everything about him is ridiculous.  
  
“Good job team,” Seongwoo says despite the fact he actually didn’t do anything there except make more observations for his project.  
  
“Team? But you didn’t even say anything,”  Daniel whines, kicking his foot against the bottom of Seongwoo’s chair.  
  
“What did you want me to say?” Seongwoo asks, eyebrow raised, “She seemed nice - nicer than us up here apparently - I don’t know what you were so scared of.”  
  
“She’s too nice but like underneath you know she’s scary. That’s how she convinces people to do things for her,” Daniel pouts at Seongwoo. Privately Seongwoo thinks someone could throw something at Daniel’s face and he’d still do it for them, “You could have at least told her I was busy or something!”  
  
“She figured it out herself and that was never part of our deal,” Seongwoo tells him with as bright a smile as he can muster.  
  
Daniel’s still pouting with his arms crossed over his chest. It’s not cute it looks ridiculous on a grown ass man.  
  
“Do you want me to intervene next time?” Seongwoo asks him when Daniel doesn’t make to say anything else assuming there will be plenty of next times in the future.  
  
Daniel has to know that Seongwoo has figured him out - it’s the only reason he can think of that he chose to hide in Seongwoo’s cubicle rather than one of the finance team.  
  
“That would be nice,” Daniel pouts sitting back down in the chair.  
  
“Well if you pay me well enough I might consider it,” Seongwoo tells him with a cheeky smile.  
  
Daniel frowns for a second like he’s considering what he can say in response before he perks up, “I’ll pay you in showing you how to do your payroll thing,”  
  
Seongwoo snorts.  
  
“No that one you’re doing because it’s actually your job,” He tells Daniel confidently, “Now come here and show me.”

  
-

  
Seongwoo had been on the fence about intervening in Daniel’s life. Sure he’d been watching Daniel trying to prove his hypothesis but that was more out of a desire to see if he was right than any real pressing need to interfere.  
  
If it doesn’t interfere with Seongwoo’s work he’s not sure that it’s really his place to say or do anything - he doesn’t know Daniel that well and he doesn’t want to overstep any bounds; doesn’t want to come across as creepy or meddlesome or anything else that could be seen as unsavoury.  
  
Besides - though most of the time Daniel gets off task because people ask him to do things for them, Seongwoo has noticed that he’s also very good at distracting himself when he’s becoming bored.  
  
Not everything is a puzzle for Seongwoo to solve.  
  
But then Daniel seeks him out to hide from someone and as good as asks Seongwoo to help and that basically makes his decision for him.  
  
He’s not going to go out of his way to help Daniel (he doesn’t have time for that) but he is going to help him as much as he can. Because the whole office is going to run smoother if Daniel learns to be efficient (especially if it’s Daniel that’s going to be doing Seongwoo’s budgets from now on).  
  
Really Seongwoo is mostly doing this to make his own life easier, in the end.  
  
It just helps that Daniel seems like a genuinely nice person.  
  


 

  
**Step Three: Intervention**

  
  
  
The first time that Seongwoo ends up ‘intervening’ for Daniel isn’t even intentional.  
  
Rather he’s having one of those days where he can’t keep his head on straight. He’s forgotten a clients name, posted to the wrong social media account twice, had to be reminded of a deadline by Jonghyun and all that upping his caffeine level is serving to do is add an uncontrollable tremor to his hands.  
  
He’s on his way down to lunch hoping that a break and a proper meal will help him focus when he remembers.  
  
“Daniel,” Seongwoo says diverting his path in a hurry before remembering he’s at work and he has a reputation to  uphold.  
  
He takes a deep breath, squares his shoulders and knocks on the edge of Daniel’s cubicle.  
  
“Seongwoo?” Daniel looks confused by Seongwoo’s intrusion. Probably because of how panicked Seongwoo sounded - it’s a rare day he let’s himself get like this at work.  
  
“What’s happening with the credit cards?” he asks Daniel. He knows Daniel is supposed to send the statements to him and he’s supposed to match things up and send it back but he can’t remember if he’s done it or not.  
  
“Last month or this month?” Daniel asks him head cocked to the side like he does when he gets confused.  
  
“Last month,” Seongwoo confirms. They were due yesterday and he has absolutely no memory of doing it this month.  
  
“Are you alright?” Daniel continues to question him instead of answering Seongwoo’s question which is not doing anything for his stress levels.  
  
“I’d be more alright if you answered my question,” Seongwoo doesn’t stomp his foot because Daniel (hopefully) still thinks he’s a professional but he really wants to.  
  
Daniel is opening his mouth - hopefully to actually answer the question - when he’s interrupted by the sound os someone clearing their throat.  
  
Seongwoo whips around, having not even noticed the other man standing in the corner of Daniel’s cubicle until he’d made his presence known - perhaps the most embarrassing moment of his very embarrassing day.  
  
“I can see you’re busy Daniel,” he says giving Seongwoo a stink eye that is probably unwarranted (Seongwoo doesn’t think he interrupted them mid conversation - he hopes he didn’t), “So it can wait.”  
  
“Sure,” Daniel smiles awkwardly - giving Seongwoo a very good idea of what he’s walked into (and feeling less bad about the interruption now).  
  
They exchange a couple of more minutes of small talk that honestly goes in one ear and out the other before the man finally leaves.  
  
“Thanks,” Daniel smiles at him.  
  
“Uhh, sure?” Seongwoo says not entirely sure what he’s being thanked for, “But seriously? What happened with the credit card.”  
  
Daniel’s smile drops slightly and he’s looking at Seongwoo like he’s trying to figure out the punch line of a joke.  
  
“You weren’t asking to chase him off?” Daniel asks (it’ll later occur to Seongwoo he doesn’t know why Daniel expected that to be his motive seeing as it’s the first time he’s done it).  
  
“I didn’t even notice him honestly,” Seongwoo would like to know if Daniel plans on answering him anytime this year.  
  
“Okay because you gave those back to me last week? They’ve all been approved and lodged,” The concerned look that Daniel is giving him makes a lot more sense.  
  
“Oh, that’s good,” Seongwoo says feeling relieved and suddenly exhausted now that the panic has ebbed out of him.  
  
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Daniel leans forward in his chair, elbows resting on his knees.  
  
“I’m fine, just busy,” Seongwoo waves him off. Perhaps he’s downplaying it a little but but it’s nothing he can’t handle and hasn’t handled before.  
  
“If you’re sure,” Daniel looking like he doesn’t believe Seongwoo but isn’t sure if it’s his place to say anything.  
  
Seongwoo’s thankful for that.  
  
“I’m sure, I just need to get something to eat and the biggest coffee known to man and I’ll be fine,” Seongwoo reassures him.  
  
“Well good luck. Leave at a decent hour today,” Daniel says even as Seongwoo is backing out of his cubicle.  
  
“Sure, I’ll leave at the same time you do,” Seongwoo tells him with a roll of his eyes because Daniel is potentially the biggest hypocrite on the planet.  
  
“I’ll hold you to that,” Daniel tells him grin growing larger before Seongwoo is out of sight.  
  
Seongwoo doesn’t end up remembering much about the day in hindsight but he does remember the chocolate bar that appears on his desk when he gets back from lunch and the way Daniel shows up in his cubicle at 5pm on the dot, coat slung over his arm, to cheerfully let’s him know that he’s leaving.

  
  
  
-

  
  
  
“Why do you even care so much?” Jaehwan asks Seongwoo out of the blue at Friday night drinks. Tonight no one had really felt like going out so they’d converged in the apartment that Dongmin and Doyeon shared.  
  
They’re all a couple of drinks in so things are relaxed, he’s pretty sure he just saw Yoojung sitting on Minhyuk’s shoulders trying to see if they could change the colour of the kitchen ceiling with post-it notes. Jinwoo is passed out asleep behind the couch.        
  
Seongwoo at first isn’t sure that Jaehwan is even talking to him because he’s in the middle of a conversation with Bin but then Jaehwan kicks his knee with his foot to indicate that he’s waiting for an answer.  
  
“About what?” Seongwoo asks, genuinely having no idea what Jaehwan is talking about “In general? Because I assure you I work very hard to care about very little.”  
  
“You do a pretty terrible job of it,” Bin tells him matter of factly. Seongwoo can’t help his petulant pout, an automatic reaction.  
  
“Don’t worry,” Dongmin tells him earnestly reaching across Doyeon resting on his shoulder to pat Seongwoo’s hand, “That’s not a bad thing.”  
  
“I mean, it’s kind of exhausting to watch,” Doyeon offers eyes fluttering open to fix Seongwoo with a look - he honestly thought she was asleep.  
  
“It’s exhausting to watch Seongwoo care?” Dongmin asks her looking confused.  
  
“I think she means it’s exhausting to watch Seongwoo pretend he doesn’t care,” Minhyuk contributes - piggybacking Yoojung back over to the rest of them before dumping her unceremoniously on the couch and sitting on her legs.  
  
“Who says I’m pretending?” Seongwoo can’t help but ask.  
  
“Your squishy heart,” Doyeon tells him matter-of-factly, reaching out to poke him in the chest. Her nails are so long it kind of hurts.  
  
“It’s okay,” Yoojung pats his hair in the way a small child might over enthusiastically pet an animal, “It’s better to be you who is bad at pretending not to care than Jaehwan who just doesn’t care.”  
  
“Excuse me I care,” Jaehwan says with faux offence.  
  
“Yeah about yourself,” Seongwoo mutters in a stage whisper. He’s joking of course - Jaehwan shows it in odd ways sometimes but he really does care about the people he’s close with.  
  
“Well obviously I am the most important person in my life so I come first,” Jaehwan says with a shake of his head, “But can we get back on topic.”  
  
“We can’t get back onto a topic since you never actually explained what the fuck you were talking about,” Bin points out. This is why Bin is sometimes Seongwoo’s favourite.  
  
“Well Seongwoo was playing obtuse but he obviously knows what I was talking about,” Jaehwan starts to say.  
  
“I really don’t,” Seongwoo can’t help defending himself. Sure he’s been known to play obtuse here and there but this time he isn’t playing.  
  
“Well we’re talking about why Seongwoo cares so much about Kang Daniel, you’re like kind of obsessed with him,” Jaehwan says with a triumphant and not at all sober smirk.  
  
“Seongwoo,” Dongmin says managing to make Seongwoo feel like he’s been scolded by an authority figure even though Seongwoo is the oldest one in this room (he needs more same aged friends), “Are you still holding that against him? It’s been months, wouldn’t it be easier to let it go?”  
  
“Oh no he’s moved on from hating Daniel,” Doyeon explains as she tips sideways. She’s now resting her weight on Seongwoo’s shoulder instead of Dongmin’s which is not ideal but Seongwoo is too tipsy to bother pushing her off, “He’s kind of like his own personal guard dog now.”  
  
“I for one am very confused,” Bin declares resting his head on his hands, “Seongwoo is a guard dog for the dude that sabotaged the future trajectory of his career?”  
  
“I never said that,” Seongwoo protests. He doesn’t remember saying it and he’s pretty sure that he would never.  
  
“You did,” Dongmin nods regretfully. Which means he probably actually did. Damn he was more angry at Daniel than he remembers.  
  
“What are you playing at anyway?” Jaehwan asks him, probably tired of everyone’s questions since he has his own host of questions that he wants answered, “Why are you so obsessed with him?”  
  
“I’m not obsessed with him,” Seongwoo defends. He’s barely even seen Daniel this week since he’s so busy with the preparations for their New Years Campaign - Jaehwan knows this because Jonghyun almost bit his head off over something this afternoon and usually he’s the least outwardly flustered person Seongwoo knows.  
  
“Dude, you’re like adopting him? Making him into your pet? Trying to seduce him? Tricking him into trusting you and then throwing him out the window or reporting him to HR? We just don’t know,” Jaehwan says waving his arms around in a ridiculously over exaggerated fashion.  
  
“That is all a very disturbing mental image,” Bin turns his head to blink at Seongwoo in shock. Seongwoo has to agree.  
  
“I mean think you’re trying to convince him to actually do his job properly but that seems a lost cause to me,” Jaehwan ignores Bin, stroking his chin like it’s a mystery he’s trying to decipher.  
  
“Actually he’s been kind of better recently,” Doyeon suggests lazily, “Maybe that’s down to Seongwoo?”  
  
“Yeah maybe,” Jaehwan says with an odd tone to his voice. He’s clearly trying to imply something only Seongwoo has no idea what it could possible be.  
  
“Jaehwan if I have to go through another TvN disaster again I would rip my eyelashes out one by one and feed them to Daniel,” Seongwoo says slowly. It’s true, but he also gets the feeling regardless of if Seongwoo had acted or not Daniel would have made an effort to never repeat that particular mistake, “It’s better for everyone involved if I just take steps to remind him of that.”  
  
“I don’t think you’re fooling anyone,” Jaehwan says with a sad shake of his head, “It’s a drama plot waiting to happen, your saviour complex is the start but who knows where it ends.”  
  
“Speaking of fooling anyone, dude how are your attempts to ask Sewoon out going?” Seongwoo seizes on the opening that Jaehwan gave him, only realising after the words are out of his mouth that’s potentially the dumbest topic change he could have gone for. He holds his breath waiting for Jaehwan to pick up on the giant opportunity that Seongwoo has provided him with.  
  
He doesn’t, he just does that awkward flustered thing he does when anyone mentions Sewoon and stars loudly talking to Yoojung about who knows what.  
  
“You know, you’re really lucky that Jaehwan is too drunk to pick up on that little slip up,” Doyeon whispers to him when everyone’s attention is diverted elsewhere.  
  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,”  Seongwoo moves his head slightly so he can whisper back without being overheard “I never slip up.”  
  
“So you meant to compare whatever weird pet project you’ve got going on with Daniel to Jaehwan’s giant long running crush on Sewoon?” Doyeon asks him.  
  
“Where is Hyelim when I need her?” Seongwoo asks with a loud sigh.  
  
“Out with Nara, she said she wanted a night away from playing babysitter or something,” Doyeon says with a wave of her hand, “But you know if she was here she’d have called you out in front of everyone. I’m being kind really.”  
  
“You’re being disrespectful,” Seongwoo teases her. He’s not really bothered by it outside of a work context though - he’s known Doyeon for too long for that, “why did I let your sister convince me to hire you again?” Seongwoo asks, leaning his head on top of hers to cushion his words (not that Doyeon needs him too)  
  
“Because you know I’m ridiculously competent and or Hyelim probably has pictures of you playing dress up when you were a child somewhere,” Doyeon tells him.  
  
She’s right on both counts.  
  
“Hey, pretty people,” Something suddenly thumps into the middle of Seongwoo’s back. Turning around he see that Yoojung has managed to free one of her legs and kick him square between the shoulder blades. For someone so small she has a mean kick in her.  
  
“What?” Jaehwan answers, cackling before the words have even left his mouth because he thinks he’s so clever.  
  
“No those two, the actually pretty people,” Yoojung dismisses Jaehwan with a frankness that only she can manage, “Well actually Dongmin too, no offence.” She nods at him not entirely soberly.  
  
Dongmin waves her away.  
  
“What Yoojung?” Doyeon asks her with a sense of patience that she only reserves for Yoojung.  
  
“Stop having secret pretty people meeting, I want food,” Yoojung pouts.  
  
“Pretty sure there is nothing edible in this house right now,” Minhyuk says, poking her in the knee.  
  
“That’s only because you ate it all before everyone else was here,” Dongmin says with a little glare. Not much annoys him whilst drunk but insulting his hosting skills is one of the few things bound to get him defensive.  
  
“I think we have packet cake mix,” Doyeon says thoughtfully, “If anyone is brave enough to try cooking.”  
  
“Ohh, me!” Yoojung raises her hand trying to scramble off the couch. Unfortunately Minhyuk is still sitting on one of her legs so she just sort of flails before falling sideways half off the couch.  
  
Seongwoo feels kind of bad but can’t help laughing, especially since everyone else is (how Jinwoo is sleeping through this racket he has no idea).  
  
Eventually everyone else treks off to the kitchen leaving Dongmin and Seongwoo sitting on the floor and Bin still lying with his head on the table.  
  
“Shouldn’t someone that’s mildly sober be supervising them?” Bin asks making no move to get up off the floor.  
  
“Doyeon wouldn’t let the apartment burn down,” Dongmin says. He doesn’t look like he believes what he’s saying in the slightest.  
  
“Maybe I should go,” Seongwoo sighs, getting to his feet. As the oldest he feels semi responsible, even if it’s not his apartment.  
  
“Hey, before you go,” Dongmin says, grabbing Seongwoo’s wrist, “Just, this thing with Daniel - does he have trouble with his work because he has trouble turning people down.”  
  
Seongwoo blinks at him, forgetting sometimes that Dongmin can be more perceptive than he looks. Dongmin must take his lack of response as an agreement because he laughs, “Ahh Seongwoo, it’s not always your job to try and fix the past,” he laughs lightly before he pushes Seongwoo back down, “it’s my apartment I’ll go watch them.”  
  
Then he’s gone, the only sign that he’s not entirely sober the slight wobble in his step. Seongwoo watches him leave.  
  
“Well, that was cryptic,” Bin blinks at Seongwoo. Seongwoo shrugs in response, not sure what to say.  
  
He has some thinking to do.

  
  
  
-

  
Seongwoo wasn’t even slightly exaggerating when he said the New Year Campaign was brutal. It is every year, half of the year spent preparing for it, implementing it and then evaluating it.  
  
Being assigned head of the New Year Campaign is both a great honour and a huge burden - this year that burden has fallen onto Jonghyun. Unfortunately Jonghyun is busy liaising with the communications department for some heavy duty crisis management so as the next most senior person on the project most of the responsibility has been delegated to Seongwoo.  
  
He’s about three seconds away from pulling his hair out or maybe quitting. Or at the very least demanding a raise.  
  
When Seongwoo has been in charge for two weeks with no end to the crisis situation in sight he reaches the end of his rope and has to request extra help from Jonghyun.  
  
When he asks, Jonghyun looks at Seongwoo like he has no idea who Seongwoo is for a few seconds before understanding breaks across his face (the only reason Seongwoo isn’t more annoyed than he is at the assignment is that he’s pretty sure Jonghyun spent the last week sleeping in his office - at least that’s what Hyunbin is claiming).  
  
“Right, of course you can,” Jonghyun nods, shuffling some papers on his desk out of Seongwoo’s line of vision (not that Seongwoo really cares about any of this; He majored in advertising and marketing not public relations and marketing like Jonghyun did - crisis management skills are not in his wheelhouse and nor is he looking to add them).  
  
“So I can have someone?” Seongwoo asks, surprised. Despite the ridiculously high turnover Mnet had last year they were notoriously stingy with their salary budget.  
  
“Yes, yes I’m sorry I should have thought about it earlier,” Jonghyun shakes his head looking seriously apologetic, “I’ll talk with Minhyun and see what we can do - get someone from another department or a temp maybe, just leave it with me.”  
  
Seongwoo would feel guilty about giving Jonghyun more work but if he doesn’t get someone to help then the New Year Campaign is going to end up hideously behind schedule and that would be an even bigger problem for Jonghyun.  

  
  
-

  
It’s 7pm in the evening and Seongwoo has been working on the New Year Campaign all day. He’s about ready to move to a country that doesn’t celebrate New Year - like maybe Antartica.  
  
There’s still a huge amount of work that needs done by the end of the week but Seongwoo figures the fact he’s made the same mistake three times in the last ten minutes is a sign he’s not going to get anything productive done for the rest of the night.  
  
There are still a handful of people scattered around the floor so Seongwoo isn’t surprised to see Daniel’s still in his cubicle, although he looks like he’s just about ready to pack up for the day which is relatively early for him.    
  
Seongwoo’s about to wish him a goodnight as he walks past when he notices a woman walking towards Daniel. He doesn’t know her by name but he does know she works in procurement and judging by the pile of papers in her hands she’s got some work for Daniel.  
  
Seongwoo has gotten awfully practiced at intervention.  
  
“Hey Daniel,” Seongwoo knocks on his cubicle wall speaking loud enough that the woman stops in her tracks, “are you just about finished?”  
  
“Yes,” Daniel says looking at Seongwoo like he wonders what he’s being so loud about, “Why?”  
  
“Well we had plans this evening remember?” Seongwoo says. He’s never made plans with Daniel outside of work but it’s the best he can think of right now so hopefully Daniel plays along.  
  
“We did?” Daniel mutters frowning like he’s trying to figure out if he’s actually forgotten plans.  
  
“We were going to grab something to eat and talk about the TvN budget remember?” Seongwoo asks giving Daniel a pointed look.  
  
“Oh right, let me just close up,” Daniel says logging out of his computer at record speed.  
  
Seongwoo waits for him watching the woman out of the corner of his eye hoping that the conversation she’s clearly overheard is enough for her to get the hint.  
  
It’s not (or she doesn’t care) because she continues on her path straight into Daniel’s cubicle without knocking, “Daniel,” she says putting the pile of papers on his desk with more force than is necessary, “I need your help.”  
  
“Ahh,” Daniel says looking at Seongwoo out of the corner of his eye, “With what?”  
  
“These supply chain reviews need done by close of business tomorrow,” she says simply. What really gets Seongwoo is that she’s not even asking Daniel if he can do them she’s basically just assuming that he will.  
  
“Well,” Daniel says rubbing the back of his neck, “Finance has a department wide convention tomorrow for the whole day.”  
  
“I know,” she tells him simply, looking at Seongwoo again, “Which is why I thought I’d bring them to you now, you’re usually still working at this time.”  
  
“He is, but we were just about to leave,” Seongwoo tells her with a pointed look. If she’s not going to acknowledge him than he’s just got to make his presence un ignorable.  
  
“Ahh, I see,” she doesn’t even bother to keep the visible displeasure off of her face, “If that’s the case I guess I’ll have to go through the hassle of trying to find someone else with time to do this.”  
  
It’s the most transparent attempt at a guilt trip that Seongwoo has ever seen. The fact that these work on Daniel usually is kind of sad.  
  
“I guess you will,” Seongwoo says holding her gaze until she sighs and gives up stomping away to show exactly how displeased she is.  
  
Seongwoo tries not to laugh.  
  
“She’s a piece of work,” Seongwoo turns to Daniel with a laugh. Is there anyone in procurement that isn’t unpleasant - he’s yet to come across them “Aren’t you glad that I’m around to protect you?”  
  
“Ahh, were you just trying to save me again?” Daniel asks him with a wry little twist to his mouth.  
  
“Well, yes,” Seongwoo admits as he watches Daniel swing his bag up onto his arm.  
  
“I see,” Daniel says turning his back to Seongwoo so he can make sure his desk is tidy (it’s the first time Seongwoo has seen the surface of the thing).  
  
Seongwoo pulls out his phone waiting for Daniel to finish up and when Daniel turns around he looks surprised to see Seongwoo, “Oh, you’re still here?”  
  
“Obviously I’m still here,” Seongwoo rolls his eyes, “I’m not going to wait down in the lobby for you that would be awkward.”  
  
“You’re waiting for me?” Daniel asks hesitantly. That shouldn’t be any surprise, Seongwoo is starting to doubt his IQ.  
  
“My mother raised me with manner Daniel, I’m not going to promise you dinner and not deliver,” Seongwoo tells him with more confidence than he feels. It occurs to him now that Daniel might have plans or simply not want to spend any time with him outside of work. Thankfully he is a pro at hiding how downright awkward he is in the office by now.  
  
“Oh,” Daniel’s mouth resembles the surprised emoji more than Seongwoo thought was possible “I thought you were just scaring her off,”  
  
“That was my reason for the invitation, never said I didn’t mean it though,” Seongwoo throws in a little shrug - his favourite way to fake indifference, “Unless you have more interesting plans, which I doubt because who’s more interesting than me?”  
  
“No one,” Daniel says smiling brightly again, brushing past Seongwoo on his way out of the cubicle before turning and walking backwards to the elevator “Especially since you’re paying? Right?”  
  
“I saved you shouldn’t you be paying,” Seongwoo points out wondering if Daniel is going to trip over his own feet. Probably considering he’s one of the clumsiest people Seongwoo has come across.  
  
“You saved me and you’re going to buy me dinner because you’re my treasured saviour,” Daniel tells him with a charming grin. That he promptly undermines by walking backwards straight into the wall. Seongwoo tries not to laugh.  
  
“Only because you’re annoying,” Seongwoo tells him with a sigh as he reaches past him to press the button for the lift - pretending to be a lot more put upon than he actually feels.  
  
Mostly Daniel’s lucky that he’s cute.  
  


  
-

  
  
Seongwoo asks Jonghyun for someone to help him on Monday morning. When Jonghyun hasn’t mentioned it again by Friday he just figures his request was turned down so he buckles down, works harder and tries not to go crazy.  
  
On Friday afternoon Jonghyun proves him wrong.  
  
“Seongwoo,” Jonghyun knocks on the cubicle wall, “You’re not answering your phone.”  
  
Seongwoo looks up from the flow chart he’s going over with Jaehwan and blinks, “My phone didn’t…” he starts to say before glancing to his phone and realising he has 6 new calls, “Oh, sorry,” He looks at Jonghyun, wondering how both of them missed that.  
  
“It’s okay,” Jonghyun reassures him with a kind smile, “If I didn’t have Hyunbin I’m pretty sure I’d never answer my phone.”  
  
Seongwoo has to agree with him wholeheartedly there - even with Hyunbin he gets so caught up in things he gets tunnel vision sometimes.  
  
“What can I do for you then?” Seongwoo asks hoping that not all of the calls are from Jonghyun - surely he wouldn’t have actually tried to call six times.  
  
“Your request for some help for the New Year campaign,” Jonghyun says, shifting his weight from foot to foot.  
  
“We don’t have the budget right?” Seongwoo swings his chair around so that he’s facing Jonghyun.  
  
“We don’t,” Jonghyun agrees, creeping his way further into the cubicle so that he’s not standing out in the hallway, “But I think we’ve found a solution.”  
  
“A solution?” Seongwoo questions. That sounds like they’re going to assign him a graduate or something, even though the rotation shift isn’t for another two months. If they are maybe he can put a word in for Jinyoung early, the kid deserves it.  
  
“You can have Daniel,” Jonghyun says looking proud of himself.  
  
Jaehwan starts laughing so hard that he tips sideways, slapping the desk as he goes.  
  
“I can have Daniel,” Seongwoo echoes, wondering what the heck Jonghyun is playing at, “No offence Jonghyun but the budget is the one thing that’s well and truly finished, why would I want Daniel?”  
  
“I can think of a few reasons,” Jaehwan chokes out through his laughter. Seongwoo continues to ignore him.  
  
“Daniel is being loaned to finance remember, he’s actually a business support officer. Doing a little bit of everything is what he was hired for,” Jonghyun explains patiently like he thinks that much should be obvious to Seongwoo.  
  
“But does he know anything about marketing?” Seongwoo asks, he really doesn’t have the time to be trying to teach someone the basics.  
  
“Do you need help with the marketing? Or if you passed off all the general administrative work to Daniel would you be able to deal with everything else,” Jonghyun asks him, biting on his lip.  
  
Seongwoo wants to protest. He wants to say that it’s ridiculous that he’s expected to take on the same work Jonghyun had to do with one less qualified person to help him (He has his team of course but without Jonghyun they’re one person down).  
  
Jonghyun is the most competent marketer out of all of them and the fact he wants to replace himself with Daniel who has no experience in it - no matter how much Seongwoo likes him - is disheartening.  
  
Seongwoo doesn’t protest because it’s not Jonghyun’s fault. Jonghyun is trying to find the best solution he can because Mnet has ridiculous priorities and tight coin purses.  
  
Seongwoo isn’t going to lie to Jonghyun so he eventually settles on saying, “It’s not ideal but it would help more than nothing.”  
  
“Thank you Seongwoo,” Jonghyun says like Seongwoo has done him a huge favour when it’s the other way around, “I owe you one.”  
  
Seongwoo is about to tell him the many ways in which Jonghyun could pay him back when Doyeon sticks her head over his cubicle wall.  
  
“Hey, I hate to interrupt this very important looking gathering,” she says not looking very sorry at all “but Jonghyun you got a call from Sejeong and she’d really like you to call her back ASAP, she says its urgent.”  
  
“Thank you Doyeon, but put your shoes on,” Jonghyun tells her despite the fact he can only see her head over the top of the cubicle wall  
  
“How can you tell?” she asks him, gripping the top of the divider and the resting her chin on her fingers.  
  
“Uh because you lose about five inches when you take your shoes off,” Seongwoo points out. He thought that much was pretty obvious.  
  
“Why do I have to put my shoes on? It’s not hurting anyone,” she pouts, which would probably be more effective if Jonghyun was still looking at her.  
  
“Because OHS will be on my ass,”  
  
“They’ll never find out,” Doyeon says persuasively. Unfortunately Jonghyun is just about the only person in this entire office that can resist her when she really wants something.  
  
“Jisung is back,” Seongwoo informs her, watching as Doyeon deflates slightly. Jisung is one of the nicest people Seongwoo knows but he also takes office safety very seriously and can be quite - naggy about any OHS violations he notices.  
  
He’s also in the habit of doing random spot checks of various departments.  
  
“Fine, but know I’m doing it under protest,” Doyeon pouts.  
  
“Noted,” Jonghyun says dryly. He clearly doesn’t care about Doyeon’s protests.  
  
Doyeon huffs at being ignored before she wanders off (Seongwoo is almost certain she’s going back to her desk and will not put her shoes on).  
  
“Okay, so Daniel is all yours from Monday for as long as you need him or until this stupid crisis is dealt with,” Jonghyun rubs his eyes showing frustration in his job for the first time that Seongwoo can remember that’s not behind closed doors.  
  
“As long as you need him,” Jaehwan repeats before he starts laughing again. Seongwoo is three seconds away from poisoning his coffee.  
  
“So, he’s been reassigned? There’s nothing he needs to do for finance?” Seongwoo asks wanting to make sure he has all the details.  
  
“He’ll keep his desk and is still technically assigned to the finance department but our need for him was deemed more important so the only work he should be doing is for the New Year Campaign,” Jonghyun gives Seongwoo a warning look.  
  
Seongwoo glares at Jaehwan out of the corner of his eye, daring him to repeat that. Thankfully he doesn’t.  
  
“Okay,” Seongwoo nods his head. He can works with this.  
  
“Good luck,” Jonghyun tells him before he takes his lead, off to call Sejeong (who is the head of the communications department based out of the other office - this crisis situation clearly has no end in sight).  
  
“Don’t even say anything,” Seongwoo tells Jaehwan as soon as Jonghyun is out of earshot.  
  
“Wasn’t going to,” Jaehwan holds his hands in front of him in a placating manner, though he’s not doing a very good job of fooling Seongwoo.  
  
He shakes his head and gets back to work.

  
  
-

  
  
When Seongwoo gets into work at 8 o’clock on Monday morning - the same time he starts everyday - he’s surprised to find Daniel sitting in his desk chair waiting for him.  
  
“What are you doing here?” Seongwoo asks him in bemusement as he unwinds his scarf and hangs it up on his coat rack.  
  
“I’ve been reassigned to work on your project,” Daniel tells him cheerfully, looking way too happy about it (looking way happier than anyone has a right to be on a Monday morning).  
  
“You don’t start till 9am,” Seongwoo points out shrugging out of his coat now.  
  
“Well yeah, but you start at 8 and since you requested me and everything I figured you wanted me working the same hours,” Daniel smiles brightly at him, kicking his legs in front of him like an unruly middle schooler.  
  
Seongwoo would have actually preferred the hour to himself to go through his work and figure out exactly what he wanted Daniel to do but there’s nothing he can do about it now.  
  
“I didn’t request you,” Seongwoo rushes to tell him not wanting Daniel to get the wrong idea about any of this.  
  
“Oh,” Daniel says, instantly deflating even though he tries his hardest to hide it, “Sorry for assuming.”  
  
“I mean, don’t get me wrong I’m glad that you’re working with us,” Seongwoo tells him which is only partially a lie. Sure he’d prefer someone with a marketing or communications background but if he can’t have that at least he knows Daniel is hard working and willing to give anything a go, “But I didn’t specifically ask for you since I know you’re busy.”  
  
“Oh,” Daniel perks up again like Seongwoo has said something particularly reassuring instead of the truth, “okay then. So, what am I doing boss?” He salutes Seongwoo playfully.  
  
“Well firstly you’re getting out of my desk chair,” Seongwoo tells him dryly, shooing him away so he can log into his computer, “and secondly please never call be boss again.”  
  
“Okay sir,” Daniel smiles at him cheekily, giggling like he’s made the best joke on the planet.  
  
Seongwoo sighs, “Daniel,” he says warningly as he clocks into the time sheet and checks his emails like he does every morning.  
  
“Sorry Seongwoo,” Daniel bows his head. He might look more apologetic if Seongwoo couldn’t see the grin he was struggling to hide.  
  
“Yeah, yeah,” Seongwoo tells him deciding there’s nothing in his inbox that needs any sort of urgent attention right now.  
  
“Alright, come with me then,” Seongwoo says getting out of his chair and walking away without looking to see if Daniel is following (he is - Seongwoo can hear his footfalls.)  
  
“Where are we going?” Daniel asks him catching up with Seongwoo easily because of his ridiculously (unfairly) large leg span.  
  
“Just over here,” Seongwoo says letting Daniel into what was once one of the meeting rooms. Every floor on the building has at least six and on this floor the marketing department have taken over the two smallest and turned them into ‘bases of operation’ (in Hyunbin’s words).  
  
This particular office is for use by the New Year Campaign team - for when they want to hold meetings or just work away from the hustle and bustle of the general office.  
  
The desk is pushed against the far wall and the other walls are all covered in huge whiteboards with various ideas and assignments scrawled across them. There are a few laptops and IPads in the room anyone who wants to work away from their desk and Jonghyun had even gotten a small fridge installed that was usually stocked with nothing more than junk food.  
  
The New Year Campaign was brutal so they deserved some little luxuries he claimed.    
  
Daniel observes the room with wide eyes taking everything in, “Whoa, fancy,” he eventually says. Seongwoo can’t help but laugh at him.  
  
“Not really,” he says even though it is one of the small perks of the job - especially the ability to hide out away from his desk (he gets a feeling Daniel might get some use out of that).  
  
“I think it’s fancy,” Daniel stamps his foot ever so slightly, like that settles it.  
  
Well who is Seongwoo to argue with that. Instead he gets straight down to business.  
  
“So it’s basically just boring administrative stuff your going to be doing, sorry about that,” Seongwoo says, taking a seat and gesturing for Daniel to do the same, “I mean if you have ideas feel free to share - even Hyunbin does that sometimes - but that’s not expected of you at all.”  
  
“That’s okay,” Daniel smiles brightly at him (when is Daniel’s smile not bright Seongwoo wonders) as he sits down opposite him, “General administrative stuff - whatever people need done - is kind of what my job description is.”  
  
This is as good a time as any to bring up the only potential problem that Seongwoo might have with his arrangement. Best nip it in the bud early.  
  
“The thing is if you’re going to help me Daniel then I really need you to be able to focus on this campaign and nothing else - it’s a big deal,” Seongwoo says, wondering why he feels the need to ease Daniel into it - for anyone else he probably would have told them point blank that he didn’t want them working on other work.  
  
“I know,” Daniel nods looking resolved, “Everyone knows how big the New Year Campaign is.”  
  
“Right, which means this campaign comes first. Which means you can’t be running around fixing broken air conditioners on the third floor or trying to secure catering for stakeholder meetings,” Seongwoo tells him.  
  
“I wouldn’t do that to you,” Daniel protests before Seongwoo’s even finished with the sentence.  
  
Daniel has done it to him before so he doesn’t have a great deal of faith in that statement.  
  
“Daniel,” Seongwoo says, hoping that Daniel remembers the last time he did that to Seongwoo and how badly that went.  
  
“I’d won’t ever do that to you again?” Daniel tries, looking sheepish.  
  
“You’ve got to say no, if someone asks you to do something that’s not for the campaign,” Seongwoo says, finally getting to the point. It’s the first time he’s so much as mentioned to Daniel that this is what he thinks his problem is - though surely Daniel must have suspected that Seongwoo suspects.  
  
Daniel tenses up at his words, immediately looking like he’s about to go on the defensive before he sighs and admits “I’m not very good at it.”  
  
“Well you’ve got to try,” Seongwoo says. Helping Daniel with his issue may be something of a personal project of Seongwoo’s but there’s no way he’s going to let it get in the way of his job, “Because a huge part of marketing is being timely so the whole doing your work at two in the morning isn’t going to fly.”  
  
“I’ll try,” Daniel tells him.  
  
“You’ve got to do better than try. It’s fine if you can’t do it, but just tell me and I can get a graduate reassigned instead,” Seongwoo fells like an asshole but this job is important, more important than anything he’s been charged with before. It’s bigger than him.  
  
“No. I can do it,” Daniel says looks down fidgeting uncomfortably and not really selling his words.  
  
Seongwoo can’t read him at the moment. Maybe he’s uncomfortable at being called out or maybe Seongwoo has crossed a line and Daniel feels like Seongwoo is being invasive.  
  
He makes a mental note to back off after Daniel is assigned back to finance. The last thing he wants to do is make him feel nervous or uneasy.  
  
“Hey,” Seongwoo says, reaching forward towards Daniel’s hand before realising that might be unwanted contact and letting it hover awkwardly, “I’m not trying to make you feel bad okay? You’re really good at your job and I want your help but no pressure. Plus you can always blame me for saying no,” Although obvious he would prefer if Daniel just said no because it wasn’t his job, “I just, this job is really important to me and I can’t afford to screw it up.”  
  
It’s true he’s been given responsibilities way above his pay level and he’s overwhelming nervous about the whole thing.  
  
Daniel nods looking much more purposeful now, “I won’t let you down.”  
  
Seongwoo lets himself smile, “I’m sure you won’t.” Something about the way Daniel is looking at him has Seongwoo actually believing him.  
  
Daniel smiles in return eyes crinkling, like he’s happy that Seongwoo believes him.  
  
“So, now that’s settled,” Seongwoo gets up, coming round the table to sit next to Daniel and swiping one of the laptops in the process, “Let’s talk about exactly what’s expected of you.”  
  
Daniel gulps.  
  
  


  
  
  
  
**Step Four: Results**

  
  
  
Though getting Daniel reassigned to work with him wasn’t ever part of Seongwoo’s plan once it happens he has high hopes it will help make his quest to teach Daniel to say no easier.  
  
He just doesn’t expect it to work as well as it does.  
  
The first couple of days Seongwoo is expecting to have at the very least remind Daniel to stay on topic once or twice. It doesn’t happen.  
  
There’s an incident on the second day where he has to send a passive aggressively worded email to one of the managers in logistic reminding him that Daniel was working on Seongwoo’s project and had no time to help him so please stop asking him to coordinate meeting schedules for him.  
  
Seongwoo doesn’t understand managers sometimes - it would be easier for the man to set up his own outlook appointments instead of typing all the information out to Daniel and getting him to sort them out.  
  
(“The thing is,” Daniel confides to Seongwoo, watching over his shoulder as he composes the email, “When I was seconded to finance they had to agree that I would still do a few of the essential Business Support Duties that only I knew how to do. So I still get emails like this, a lot.”  
  
Seongwoo turns to face Daniel skeptically, “You’re trying to tell me you’re the only one on that entire floor that can use outlook properly?”  
  
“No,” Daniel says rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, “They just don’t seem to have an understanding of what essential is.”  
  
“So tell them,” Seongwoo says like it’s that simple even though he knows it’s easier said than done especially when it comes to your boss. Seongwoo knows he really lucked out with Jonghyun.  
  
“Ahh but now I don’t have to because you have,” Daniel smiles toothily at him.  
  
Sometimes Seongwoo wonders who’s really in charge here.)  
  
Despite that one incident people seem to leave Daniel well enough alone (as far as Seongwoo can see). Maybe it’s because word got out he’s been transferred to the project Jonghyun is in charge of and no one wants to disappoint Jonghyun. Maybe rumours of Seongwoo intervening have spread - that’s kind of what he’s been hoping for here because he doesn’t want to be doing this forever. Or maybe hell has frozen over and Daniel is finally turning people down.  
  
Sure Daniel does spend a lot of his time hiding away in their campaign room instead of at his desk but Seongwoo can’t really fault him for that, especially if it means he’s more productive.  
  
Daniel’s also very good at his job. He picks up new things very quickly and within a couple of days Seongwoo has given him passwords to the social media accounts. He’s also willing to go that extra mile (which given everything Seongwoo had never doubted) and offers to do tasks that no one in their right mind would ever want.  
  
Not that Seongwoo is going to argue with him, especially when he offers to take over the SPSS duties.  
  
(“I hate SPSS,” Seongwoo whines one evening when it’s hit 10pm and he feels like there’s no end in sight. They needs the data from last years campaigned analysed by the end of the week and he hasn’t even got all of it entered yet - he curses whoever was too lazy to do it last year (not him because this is his first year assigned to the New Year Campaign).  
  
“What’s SPSS?” Daniel asks him looking up from yet another packet of lollies he’s eating.  
  
“A plague on my soul, my one arch nemesis, something designed purely for my suffering, my own personal hell,” Seongwoo tells him dramatically. It doesn’t feel that much like an over-exaggeration.  
  
“I thought your own personal hell was being trapped with Jaehwan in a dark elevator that was playing Christmas music on repeat,” Daniel tells him with a guileless expression that he knows for a fact is fake.  
  
Seongwoo flicks a paperclip at him, “I would be working on SPSS in that elevator,” Seongwoo tells him haughtily. “But to seriously answer your question it’s data mining software.”  
  
“Oh, sure oaky” Daniel says looking like he has no idea what that means.  
  
“I’m putting in survey result data from our last New Years Campaign and then it gives us all sort of various statistics and modelings,” Seongwoo explains as simply as it can, “Which is fine but the actual data entry is making a short trip out that window look promising.”  
  
Daniel looks at him, chewing thoughtfully, before he says, “If it’s just data entry do you want me to give it a go?”  
  
“Are you sure?” Seongwoo asks him out of obligation. He probably shouldn’t have given Daniel an opening to refuse, had never thought to palm it off to him. Now that he’s offered though it’s nothing that Daniel can’t do.  
  
“Sure, it’s kind of my job,” Daniel shrugs getting out of his chair and coming to sit next to Seongwoo, “Just show me exactly what I need to do.”  
  
“I could kiss you,” Seongwoo tells him without thinking, sleep deprived and high on caffeine.  
  
Luckily before he really processes exactly what he said Daniel laughs, “Take me on a proper date not take out at the office first, then we’ll see.”  
  
Seongwoo laughs and quickly turns the subject back to learning SPSS)  
  
Working that late is not an odd experience for Seongwoo in the time he’s been acting as project leader. Other members of the team work late sometimes but Daniel is there almost every night that Seongwoo is.  
  
They take turns buying dinner and staying holed up in the campaign room later than Seongwoo is used to being in the office. It’s a new experience for both of them - Seongwoo not used to doing this much overtime and Daniel not used to being paid for his overtime.  
  
Seongwoo thought he knew Daniel as well as he did any of his other co-workers (bar Doyeon and Jaehwan of course) but in the few weeks they spend working on the project he gets to learn so much more about him. He’s an interesting person, nothing like what Seongwoo assumed he would be and yet living up to many of his expectations at the same time.  
  
( “I like helping people,” Daniel tells him cheerfully one of the few nights they leave the building before midnight, “It was just me and mum growing up so you know I’m used to it.”  
  
“I think anyone can see you like helping people,” Seongwoo tells him with a laugh, “Maybe too much.”  
  
“No such think as helping other people too much,” Daniel tells him solemnly.  
  
Seongwoo would argue otherwise, he has a whole speech prepared in his head he’s been planning about as long as he’s known about Daniel’s little character quirk.  
  
He promptly loses his train of thought because Daniel suddenly wraps his arms around Seongwoo from behind.  
  
“What are you doing?” Seongwoo asks him in confusion, tensing up. He’s not huge on physical contact from him co-workers - there are lines that should be drawn between your professional and personal life. People in the office rarely touch you for the sake of it - there’s always something they want from you. People are always trying to manipulate with body language so Seongwoo is constantly suspicious  - that might just be because he’s been in marketing too long.  
  
Daniel on the other hand has not a single line like that as far as Seongwoo has seen and often reaches out a hand for anyone within arms reach, using contact to ground himself.  
  
It’s because it seems so instinctive for Daniel that he doesn’t feel like Daniel has any ulterior motives when he tells Seongwoo “It’s because I’m cold.” Seongwoo accepts it even though it’s not a particularly cold evening.  
  
“Invest in a jumper,” Seongwoo tells him dryly glad that no one is around in the parking garage to see them right about now.  
  
“But I don’t want a jumper,” Daniel whines in his ear.  
  
Seongwoo sighs, because Daniel is not a light person even though he assumes he’s not putting his whole body weight on Seongwoo.  
  
“Well I’m not quitting my job to become your personal jumper so, buy one,” Seongwoo tells him, not bothering to shrug his arms off because Daniel is obviously way stronger than him).  
  
So it’s only been a few weeks but Seongwoo kind of feels like he’s been working with Daniel for a lot longer than that - like an old friend. Someone warm and familiar.  
  
Seongwoo can’t quite believe it when three weeks pass and Jonghyun is finally free to move back onto the project. Seongwoo is more than glad to hand control back over to Jonghyun (even though Jonghyun still had the final say in all the big decisions he’d left a lot of the responsibility in Seongwoo’s hands)  
  
 It means Daniel’s reassignment is over.  
  
Seongwoo finds himself way more disappointed at the news than he ever expected - Daniel’s been not only a good asset to the team but fun to have around. He’s made the late nights and the long hours a little bit less daunting.  
  
“Have you ever thought of moving to marketing?” Seongwoo asks Daniel jokingly, watching as he collects everything he’s left in the campaign room, “To be our full time data enterer and errand boy?”  
  
“Ahh so that was your goal,” Daniel jokes packing up the ridiculous amount of mess he’s managed to leave despite the fact he’s only been using the room for a short amount of time.  
  
“My goal?” Seongwoo asks him curiously.  
  
“Yeah, your long con. I’ve been wondering what you’ve been up to but I think I get it,” Daniel says with his back to Seongwoo. He feels like it’s a pointed gesture though he can’t figure out why Daniel would be doing it.  
  
“My long con? Why are you making me sound like an evil mastermind?” Seongwoo jokes, mostly because he has no idea what Daniel is talking about and why his mood has seemingly dropped so suddenly.  
  
“That’s what this was all about, you wanted me to come and do your grunt work?” Daniel turns back around looking more like a kicked puppy than he has any right to.  
  
“No,” Seongwoo says slowly, debating what to say next. He goes with the truth since he figures Daniel can handle it, “Honestly no offence but when Jonghyun first suggested getting you in to help with this project I didn’t want you, I wanted a marketing officer.”  
  
Daniel flinches slightly at Seongwoo’s words - which potentially came across harsher than he meant them to - so he rushes to add, “I mean you were so helpful, invaluable and I really enjoyed working with you, you’re really good at what you do. But no it was never my goal to get you reassigned to marketing.”  
  
He’s more than used to empty words to soothe bruised egos and though these ones are nothing but the truth he’s surprised that Daniel seems so hurt when he was confused by his reassignment at first too.  
  
“Okay,” Daniel nods looking less deflated but still slightly off.  
  
“I mean I would fight for you now but I think Sungwoon might win, he plays dirt,” Seongwoo jokes trying to lighten the mood.  
  
Usually Daniel would laugh at that like it’s the funniest thing he’s ever heard (Speaking of egos Daniel is very good for Seongwoo’s). Now he just cracks a smile.  
  
There’s an awkward silence that Seongwoo doesn’t know how to break (clearly jokes aren’t going to work here and that’s about the only method he has up his sleeve) before Daniel speaks abruptly.  
  
“You’ve been scaring people off,” Daniel he says looking at him in a way that Seongwoo can’t quite put a word to, all he knows is it makes him feel almost heavy, somewhere in his chest.  
  
“Excuse me, are you calling me scary?” Seongwoo asks him, pressing his hand to his chest to show Daniel how genuinely offended he is.     
  
“Only when you want to be,” Daniel’s smile is small but there, “and you’ve wanted to be a lot recently.”  
  
Seongwoo probably should have expected Daniel would confront him about it at some point - he’s not exactly been subtle after all. He should have expected it but he hasn’t figured out what he wants to say to him.  
  
“Maybe I have,” He shrugs carelessly to buy himself time to think.  
  
“Why?” Daniel asks him. A simple question that Seongwoo isn’t sure he has the answer to.  
  
“I told you - Because you need to stop stretching yourself too thin and letting people take advantage of you. It effects everyone in the office,” Seongwoo tries to keep his voice gentle because he doesn’t want to start a fight - he’s not trying to accuse Daniel of anything he’s just answering the question he’s been asked.  
  
“This is about that thing with the TvN?” Daniel asks him incredulously, “Still? After all these months.”  
  
“No,” Seongwoo insists, because it’s not really, “It’s about the fact you overwork yourself and spread yourself too thin.”  
  
“But why do you care so much? Why have you wasted so much of your time on me?” Daniel looks overwhelmingly frustrated a stark contrast to his usual cheerful disposition a few minutes ago, “I can’t figure out your motive.”  
  
“Who says it’s about you?” Seongwoo asks him playfully, not ready to share with Daniel (or anyone) why he’s so invested in this, “I’m just looking out for this company.”  
  
“How so?” Daniel asks, looking confused.  
  
“Doing overtime that your not paid for? A lawsuit waiting to happen,” Seongwoo tells him ignoring Daniel’s protests that he would never (Seongwoo knows he would never), “Not to mention the out of this world workers compensation that would result if you were injured when you were working her alone at night? What if you seriously hurt yourself and no one knew until morning and by then you’d lost too much blood and died?” Seongwoo asks him, letting himself get a bit carried away.  
  
Daniel blinks, “Wow Seongwoo I didn’t know you cared so much.” The words are sarcastic but there’s an undercurrent to them that Seongwoo can’t quite put his finger on.  
  
“This company is my number one priority,” Seongwoo continues to joke because he’s not sure he’s ready for any serious or deep conversations with Daniel. He likes Daniel but he’s not unlocked Seongwoo’s tragic backstory angst just yet, “And you’re part of this company.”  
  
“Thanks,” Daniel says, looking away from Seongwoo again, “So you’d have done the same for anyone who was off task?”  
  
“No probably not,” Seongwoo answers without really thinking about it. There’s a whole number of reasons Seongwoo’s been helping Daniel from the selfish to the faye he genuinely likes Daniel as a person. He’s not ready to explain any, “I wouldn’t really know about it for anyone else.”  
  
“Ahh,” Daniel nods like that explains everything before he straightens up, “Well Seongwoo thank you,” he says with a smile. Seongwoo’s not sure exactly what he’s being thanked for, “It’s been fun.”  
  
“You sound like you’re about to move away to Canada to never see me again,” Seongwoo tells him. It’s like Daniel is reading from a really cheesy drama script, “Not to the other side of the office.”  
  
“It’s basically the same thing,” Daniel shrugs, shifting the folders he has stacked in his arms, “Essentially.”  
  
“Yeah and I for one will be glad not to have to feed you anymore,” Seongwoo teases him gently, plucking the top files off of Daniel’s pile for him - there’s no way he’d make it back to his desk without dropping them.  
  
“Hey, you eat as much as me,” Daniel protests playfully as Seongwoo opens the campaign room door for him.  
  
“No one eats as much as you,” Seongwoo scoffs following Daniel off to his cubicle, “That’d be impossible.”  
  
Daniel mutters something that Seongwoo doesn’t catch  
  
“Don’t be a stranger,” Seongwoo tells him, hovering awkwardly in the corner of his cubicle not sure why this feels like something important is ending rather than a temporary reassignment.  
  
“I’m just on the other side of the office, remember,” Daniel mocks his words from early with a self satisfied smile - like he’s proud of himself for that.  
  
“Seongwoo!” Jaehwan calls from the other side of the office, catching his attention (and half the nosey eavesdroppers on the floor), “I’m really sad for you and everything but we have that meeting with Jonghyun.”  
  
“Right,” Seongwoo calls back, meeting Daniel’s eyes so he can pointedly roll his own before he’s rushing off.  
  
They have a meeting with Jonghyun to properly catch him up on the smaller details of everything he’s missed and it’s probably going to end up going the whole day.  
  
“Bye,” Daniel calls to Seongwoo’s retreating form. Seongwoo just waves an arm and ducks into Jonghyun’s office just as Hyunbin is about to close the door.  
  
“Seongwoo, glad to see you stop pretending to be responsible the second you’re not in charge,” Hana says sarcastically as Seongwoo greets his co-workers.  
  
“If both me and Jonghyun were responsible the world would probably implode creating a black hole and sucking us all inside,” Seongwoo tells her with a straight face as he takes his customary seat next to Jonghyun.  
  
Jonghyun does a terrible job of hiding a laugh into his hand before he starts the meeting.  
  
Seongwoo is right the meeting does end up going till almost four with only a quick break for Jonghyun to order them all in lunch - he doesn’t even think about Daniel for the rest of the day.  
  
(He does go out after work and buy a bomber jacket that he leaves hanging on the back of Daniel’s chair before he gets in the next morning - a little thank you for all the ways Daniel has gone out of his way to help him.  
  
He doesn’t want to be yet another person taking advantage of his kindness after all).  
  


  
-

  
  
More than once over the next few days Seongwoo finds himself turning to talk to Daniel or composing an email to him before he remembers that Daniel isn’t part of his team anymore.  
  
Seongwoo’s clearly gotten used to having someone to do all the boring bits for him and is reluctant to take them back himself. Although he’s tempted he never does ask Daniel because that would defeat the purpose of the last few months of awkward intervention.  
  
(The only actual hiccup he has readjusting to normal is that time he calls Guanlin Daniel. Thankfully he’s too nice to mention it).  
  
As quickly as he adjusted to Daniel’s presence he gets used to things going back to normal. Except now Daniel’s added to the very short list of people sometimes he gets lunch or coffee with.  
  
He doesn’t have much of a chance to keep an eye on Daniel with the flurry of everything after he goes back, but he does notice Daniel leaving at the same time as him or before him a handful of times which he counts as a good thing.  
  
Then he gets the results he was always aiming for on a nondescript Thursday afternoon.  
  
Seongwoo is on his way to the bathroom when he notices Jinyoung furtively gesturing to him from his cubicle, finger pressed to his lips to indicate he wants Seongwoo to be quiet.  
  
Seongwoo frowns in confusion but follows his request, curiosity winning out.  
  
“I think we’re about to hear a miracle,” Jinyoung whispers when Seongwoo steps in, sitting with his head tilted towards Daniel’s cubicle wall.  
  
“No way,” Seongwoo mouths, eyes wide. Sure technically he heard Daniel turn someone down on two occasions when he was working with him but that’s because Seongwoo point blank told him he was expected to.  
  
Jinyoung nods, “This is only the third person that’s approached him since he came back from working with you but I really think he’s about to say no,” he explains before turning his attention back to Daniel’s cubicle.  
  
Seongwoo takes the spare seat and listens in as well.  
  
“It’ll take twenty minutes tops, and you’re the best at it,” a man’s voice that Seongwoo recognises but couldn't place says. The words themselves should sound begging but the man just sounds, demanding.  
  
“Maybe, but I’m not the only one that can do it,” Daniel says calmly. Seongwoo kind of wants to cheer him on but he also doesn’t want Daniel to know he’s eavesdropping.  
  
“You do it the best though,” The man says in a way that’s vaguely threatening.  
  
Jinyoung and Seongwoo exchange a look but Daniel holds his ground.  
  
“I heard you the first time but it’s not my job anymore and I’m busy, so I’m sorry I can’t do it” Daniel tells him sounding apologetic but still firm. The apology is unnecessary but they can’t fix everything overnight.  
  
“Well,” The man says sounding offended though he has no right to, “I guess the rumours are true.”  
  
“I don’t know what rumours you mean,” Daniel says. Seongwoo can picture the politely fed up smile he’s probably wearing right about now, “But it was nice to speak to you, sorry I couldn’t be more help.”  
  
“I’m sorry too,” The man says sounding disappointed (or like he’s trying to come across that way - it’s not very genuine).  
  
There are a few more words exchanged, hushed whispers that Seongwoo can’t make out before they hear the man stomp off the same way a teenager having a tantrum might behave.  
  
“We did it,” Jinyoung cheers quietly once the man has left Daniel’s cubicle, sticking his hand out for a high five that Seongwoo’s gladly gives.  
  
He’s oddly proud of Daniel, which is a ridiculous thing to feel given the circumstances and the fact Daniel’s only his co-worker. Then again he’s invested time into this whole scheme - so has Jinyoung - so he think he deserves it.  
  
“That we did,” Seongwoo says, turning to Jinyoung with a wide grin, “I think this calls for a celebration don’t you?”  
  
“What do you have in mind?” Jinyoung asks matching his smile with one of his own.  
  
(They go out and buy a cake. They eat most of it between the two of them but when Daniel is at lunch a single slice and two party hats mysteriously appear on his desk).  
  
  


  
  
**Step Five: Unintended Side Effects**

  
  
  
Seongwoo almost groans in frustration on Monday morning when he realises that he can’t find a copy of the most recent SPSS data files. Daniel was the last one working on them a few weeks ago, as far as Seongwoo is aware, but he was sure Daniel had emailed him copies of everything he’d had when he went back to finance.  
  
Clearly he hadn’t, or Seongwoo has managed to misplace the digital file, because he spends half an hour looking for it and and cannot find it.  
  
Eventually when he realises it’s about the time that Daniel starts for the day he decides that he might as well swallow his pride and ask Daniel instead of looking for what he clearly doesn’t have.  
  
Daniel’s not at his desk, though his computer is logged in, and for a brief second he has an overwhelming sense of deja vu.  
  
“He’s in the kitchen,” Jinyoung’s head pops over the divider between his and Daniel’s offices, “before you have an aneurysm or something.”  
  
“Thanks Jinyoung,” Seongwoo smiles at him before he heads in the direction of the kitchen. Sure enough Daniel is standing in the corner of the otherwise empty room messing around with the outdated coffee machine.  
  
“Daniel do you have-” Seongwoo starts to ask. Before he can even get his question out Daniel turns to him with a cheeky grin that he knows never means anything good. Usually it means a painfully lame joke.  
  
“No,” Daniel he says simply, looking ridiculously pleased with himself.  
  
“Hey!” Seongwoo protest playfully, trying not to grin too wide despite the fact he really does need that data file “You don’t even know what I was going to ask,”  
  
“It doesn’t matter the answer is still no,” Daniel continues to smile in satisfaction.  
  
“But Daniel, you’re not allowed to say no to me.” Seongwoo says. Mostly because what he’s asking Daniel is not a favour but actually in relation to some work he’s done (Daniel doesn’t know that though).  
  
“I thought you wanted me to learn to stand up for myself,”  Daniel asks him cheekily, bouncing around on the balls of his feet.  
  
“To everyone else, but not to me. I’m special,” Seongwoo says puffing his chest up like he likes to do when he’s faking importance.  
  
Daniel doesn’t bite. Instead his smile softens this time, “Yeah, I guess you are.”  
  
Seongwoo doesn’t know what to make of that, doesn’t know what Daniel means by it.  
  
He returns Daniel’s smile, glad that this whole thing is over and he can stop spending so much of his time and energy on Kang Daniel.  
  
But then as he stands here grinning at Daniel something occurs to him. Something that he’s known in the back of his mind for a long time but has tried to ignore.  
  
He knows what he wants Daniel to mean by that. He wants Daniel to think he’s special.  
  
He wants Daniel to like him. He wants Daniel to like him in the way that Seongwoo likes Daniel. .  
  
Because Seongwoo was supposed to help Daniel learn to stay on task. He was never supposed to develop feelings for him.  
  
Except that’s what he’s done.  
  
Seongwoo has gone and let himself fall in love with Daniel.  
  
This was never part of the plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still don’t know how Jaehwan ended up in the Fantagio squad it just happened go with it.
> 
> Anyway I still have one fic fest fic to write and another to either re-write or completely overhaul so probably won’t get a chance to finish anything else until December (I’m trying to get ahead on Jonghyun’s 11 right now but it’s fighting me xD)

**Author's Note:**

> In other news I've finally taken my twitter account off private so like hit me up @nichesindrome if you want (I don't know why you'd want though I've got no idea what I'm doing with this website & have nothing worth saying xD)


End file.
